What makes a 21st Century Garden City?
A Garden City is a fair, just and harmonious community. It is not restricted to new cities or towns or those built following traditional Garden City town planning, architectural or design principles. A Garden City is about community, not merely about architecture and urban design.
It is about building a harmonious community, balancing the best of town and country together to a community where the measure of success is ultimately the happiness of the people who live in it. Below are listed twelve principles that we believe underlie a Garden City. Some are methods and others are objectives. In effect these principles represent doorways into the Garden City; you can enter using one of the many doorways. But contradict or deny any of the principles, then they will also prove themselves to be exits. We declare that any town, city or neighborhood can be considered as a Garden City if it embraces the following principles:
1. Residents are citizens
Residents consider themselves to be citizens of the Garden City. This includes people who also work, participate and use the Garden City. They are aware that the town truly belongs to them. There is a culture of right, duties and responsibilities that comes through citizenship. The town is run for the common good, reflecting and representing the common will with a belief in equality and fraternity as the city is run for the benefit of the many, not the few.