Garden Cities of the Americas: Greenbelt and El Palomar, a Comparative Case Study on the Model's Translation to the American Continents

The Garden City model proposed by Ebenezer Howard in the 1890s has proven to be highly adaptable to different environments, political and historical contexts, and different cultural backdrops. However, this inherent flexibility has also left the Garden City model vulnerable to appropriation and misinterpretation. This vulnerability has been extensively tested through a number of adaptations and international translations that took place at the beginning of the twentieth century. To develop this thesis, the essential elements and the theory behind the original British model are used as a basis for a comparative case study that focuses on the translation of Howard's urban scheme to the United States and Argentina: Greenbelt in Maryland (1937), and Ciudad Jardín Lomas del Palomar in Buenos Aires (1944). An analysis of their planning components allows for a critical view on the adaptation and interpretation carried out in each of these endeavors. This approach is tested through an understanding of the historical, political, social, and cultural precedents that have shaped the materialization of the chosen North and South American examples. In conclusion, the Garden City model has proven to be flexible enough to adapt to a wide range of local determinants, although it is in retaining the essential elements in the original scheme as a whole that the true success of the model resides.