There are two theory described here about urban design and urban planning, those are the garden city movement and the city beautiful movement.

The Garden City Movement and a Scientific Approach

In his influential book Tomorrow: A Peaceful Path to Social Reform (1898), Ebenezer Howard, an English parliamentary stenographer, showed how workable and livable towns could be formed within the capitalist framework.

Permanent green space would separate the city and towns, serving as a horizontal fence of farmland. Rails and roads would link the towns, which would have their own industries, the nearby farms supplying fresh foods. All increases in land values would accrue to the town and its “stockholders,” the townspeople.

Howard’s proposal was accompanied by diagrams showing the attractions of the town, the country, and then of both, when ideally combined. The functional relations between the central city and its concept of a garden city and its internal lay out. Howard’s detailed thinking was not limited to physical design or to studies of optimum population sizes. He also made a precise financial analysis of what it would cost to build a garden city and now its operating costs would be met. Therein lay the strength of his proposal. He showed how it could be accomplished.

Howard’s analytical approach was an indication of the almost scientific study that modern city building requires. The city is so large and its operations so complex that is proper understanding can only be gained by the full application of precise analysis.

The City Beautiful Movement

In 1901 the AIA held a national conference on city beautification in Washington, D.C. The McMillan Commission was then formed to prepare a plan for the improvement of central Washington.

They toured Europe for inspiration and returned to propose a grand classical concept of landscape architecture with axes, mall, focal points, and pools–in effect reviving the original L’Enfant plan for the city. This, together with the example of the world’s fairs, initiated a country-wide program of civic improvement efforts: “the City Beautiful Era”. The City Beautiful Era was by no means limited to civic centers or fine public buildings. There was considerable activity in the creation of planned residential communities.

From the urban design book: “The Architecture of Town and Cities”, Paul Spreiregen, AIA