Exploring food in the gardens of New Towns and Garden Cities

This project examines the role of gardens in localised food systems within English Garden Cities and New Towns, focusing on private, public, and community gardens, orchards, allotments, edible street trees, beehives, animal-keeping spaces, and composting. Special attention is given to Hertfordshire’s two garden cities, Letchworth and Welwyn, and the representative New Town examples of Harlow, Hatfield and Stevenage, exploring their influence on contemporary and
future food-resilient spaces. The research impact will focus on what the legacy of Ebenezer Howard’s Garden City model and subsequent adaptations by key planners and garden designers including Frederick Gibberd in the New Towns can tell us about shaping resilient ‘edible’ gardens today and into the future. Using archival, artistic, and morphological sources, the project investigates how garden-based food systems shape production, distribution, and community life
while enhancing health and placemaking. Public engagement impact will be through both an exhibition at the garden museum, outreach talks, and guided ‘food and gardens’ walks in garden cities and new towns.