Cities of Tomorrow

In learning about the history of planning, one of the things that has stuck with me most has been the ways in which ideas repeat. In other words, how a concept from an old project or design can reappear years later and become part of something new. Sometimes an imperfect or even failed project gives us a detail that leads us to a better way forward. One example of this is the industrialized concentric city. Both Ebenezer Howard and Walt Disney created complex radial cities: the Garden City and E.P.C.O.T., respectively. While Howard’s design was popular initially, in the end, it did not remain a commonly-used plan. EPCOT never even made it past the planning stage. However, both introduced us to ideas that later appeared in suburbanization as well as modern-day sustainable city planning. The concepts in today’s urban planning aren’t new - they are built on pieces of former designs.

Sir Ebenezer Howard introduced the idea of the Garden City in his 1898 book, Tomorrow: A Peaceful Path to Real Reform. The book was so popular that a second edition, titled Garden Cities of Tomorrow, was published in 1902. The Garden City was a creative solution to the problems caused by England’s Industrial Revolution. Howard noticed that, as city population and density increased, quality of life decreased. The Garden City was a “slumless, smokeless” utopia that gave its residents the benefits of both the city and the country.

Over sixty years later, in 1965, Walt Disney began work on his second big project. Since Disneyland’s completion a decade earlier, Walt had turned his attention to planning for America’s future. By 1966, he had designed, modeled, and began work on a documentary for E.P.C.O.T., or the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow. This was his original plan for the land in Florida that later became Disney World. EPCOT was, essentially, Disney’s own Garden City. Like Howard’s city, it was radial, with a skyscraper and business district as its central hub. Further out were community centers, schools, and green space, and residential neighborhoods sat on the exterior edge.

While similar to Howard’s design, EPCOT included some important differences. First, it relied entirely on public transportation. All car traffic in and out of the city would be pushed into underground tunnels and parking garages, leaving the city safe for pedestrians. On the surface, Disney planned to put a monorail system, and smaller rail lines he called “people-movers”. Second, Disney wanted EPCOT to be culturally diverse - its shopping district would be divided into multiple zones, with each representing a different region of the world. Not only would this bring a diverse population in EPCOT, it would also encourage connections within the community. Finally, unlike the Garden City, EPCOT never got a chance to exist in real life. Walt had intended to build a 20,000-citizen version in Florida, but died shortly after buying the land.

Sources

“Urban Planning: Garden City”. Encyclopaedia Britannica. The Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1998, www.britannica.com/topic/garden-city-urban-planning.

Walt Disney’s Original E.P.C.O.T. 2002-2017, sites.google.com/site/theoriginalepcot.