1. Residents are Citizens.
2. The Garden City
owns itself.
3. The Garden City is energy efficient and carbon
neutral.
4. Provides access to land for living and working to all.
5. Fair Trade principles are practised.
6. Prosperity is shared.
7. All citizens are equal, all citizens are different.
8. There is fair
representation and direct democracy.
9. Garden Cities are produced through
participatory planning and design methods.
10. A City of Rights that builds and defends the
Right to the City
11. Knowledge is held in common, shared and
enhanced.
12. Wealth and harmony measured by happiness.
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 rights, 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.
2. The Garden City owns
itself
The Garden City is ultimately
owned by its local community and not by a series of landlords. This ownership
and governance is derived from the people who live and work in
the city and who are its citizens acting for the common good. If the Garden City is its own landlord then
it is answerable to and controlled by its citizens, ideally as a Community Land
Trust managed by democratic structures that make it both
inclusive and accountable.
3. The Garden City is energy efficient and carbon neutral
A Garden City has a harmonious
relationship with nature and is energy efficient. A Garden City is a carbon neutral city and does not pollute. It’s planning,
design and resources are deployed to achieve this goal. Citizens and the
Government in the Garden City have a collective responsibility in their daily lives to design
and implement such policies. This could be ensuring the provision of clean,
safe and efficient public transport, the ability to navigate the Garden City by
walking or cycling on one hand and the ability to reduce waste, recycle and
reuse resources by citizens on the other.
4. Provide access to land for
living and working to all
The Garden City promotes urban agriculture, the ability for citizens to grow most of their own food, even in an urban area. There is a right of
free and fair access to the land for all residents to grow their own food
whether it is through common allotments, common land, farms,
productive streets and parks or private gardens. Alongside this is the right to
affordable housing and also the right of access to resources in urban areas to
build or run their individual or collective businesses or workshops. It is a productive
city that aims at its own self-sufficiency providing opportunities for
agricultural work, crafts, commerce and industry. Rents are provided to
encourage self-sufficiency and regeneration, provided in partnership with
tenants, not just for tenants. The goal is for the City to be productive and
sustainable in its own right, not as a dormitory settlement or a place of mere
consumption.
5. Fair Trade principles are practised
The Garden City is committed to the
practises and ethics of Fair Trade implementing the credo that it’s prosperity is not built upon the suffering of others,
whether inside its own city limits, inside its own country or internationally.
6. Prosperity is shared
The prosperity of the Garden City is shared in practise among
all its citizens, not just among the rich, wealthy and
establishment. Participatory budgeting through which citizens decide on the
priorities for public and community investment is one of the key mechanisms in
practise. To secure the wealth and trigger jobs among the community it can
create local or a complementary community currency and set up community banks.
7. All citizens are equal, all citizens are
different
All citizens in a
Garden City are equal regardless of how long they have lived there or how many
generations of their family have. There are no special privileges for anyone. A
Garden City provides support and treat with dignity those with mental and
physical disabilities and value each citizen, irrespective of their religious
or sexual orientation.
8. Fair representation and direct democracy
There is a right to participate
in the Garden City, in what the city does, how it is run and who does what. A Garden
City can be made up of many cities and towns but each of these will be
comprised of different neighbourhoods and communities, each with differing
needs and aspirations. The prosperity of the Garden City is employed to help those
in greatest need. Each community and neighbourhood should be empowered and
encouraged to form its own free and open association, council or forum to
represent and engage the views and needs of that local community. The Garden
City will share its decision making. It will devolve some to representatives
but by also by engaging directly and meaningfully with the citizens so all can
have an informed say and collective decision making power on the priorities for
the Garden City.
9. Garden Cities are produced through participatory
planning and design methods.
A Garden City is in harmony with
the landscape, water, air, nature and the surrounding countryside. New
developments and housing have Garden City space and design characteristics and
aim to promote the health and wellbeing of its citizens, current and future and are developed through
participatory methods on fundamental issues, not just cosmetic ones. Public
spaces are widely available as an important concept as it provides the means
for people to meet and share views and to integrate. These public spaces and
facilities bring together young and old, rich and poor, those of different
races, religions and backgrounds as a community that celebrates and rejoices in
its diversity and exercises tolerance and freedom.
10. A City of Rights that builds and defends the Right to the City.
In the Garden City there are
universal rights for all citizens such as the right to clean air, the right to
nutritious food, the right to adequate housing, the right to work
and fair wages. There are not only individual rights but collective rights such as the collective right to enjoy
the city and its majesty as well as collective civic and political rights. In
traditional terms, as the City is held in common there is a collective right to
these commons. The Right to the City is a superior Right as it is both
individual and collective.
11. Knowledge is held in common, shared and enhanced
A Garden City is a mutual city that builds a culture of production,
sharing and co-operation, not just in terms of its prosperity and governance but also in terms of the knowledge it acquires
and generates. It shares and co-operates for the good of the City while still
operating competition to create innovation and development.
12. Wealth and harmony measured by happiness
The wealth and harmony of the Garden City is measured in
the happiness its citizens. It is the only true
measurement of a successful city. Their happiness is not based upon the
suffering or expense of others.
