HOA Detective™ – Jan 24, 2025: The concept of community planning has undergone significant transformations over the past century, influenced by visionary thinkers like Ebenezer Howard and contemporary scholars such as Dr. Evan McKenzie. Their works, “Garden Cities of To-morrow” and “Privatopia,” respectively, offer contrasting yet insightful perspectives on the development and governance of residential communities.
Ebenezer Howard’s Vision: The Garden City Movement
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/46134
In 1898, Ebenezer Howard introduced the world to his revolutionary idea of the “Garden City” in his book “To-morrow: A Peaceful Path to Real Reform,” later revised as “Garden Cities of To-morrow.” Howard envisioned self-contained communities that harmoniously combined the benefits of urban and rural life. These garden cities were designed to alleviate the social and environmental issues prevalent in industrial cities, such as overcrowding, pollution, and lack of green spaces. Central to Howard’s model was the integration of ample green spaces, efficient land use, and communal management, aiming to foster a balanced and healthy living environment.
The late Victorian England era in which Howard lived during his formative years was no doubt a major influence in his thinking as he pondered the conditions in urban landscapes such as London, England. Howard’s legacy includes the town of Letchworth Garden City, UK, and Welwyn Garden City, UK, located 30 and 20 miles north of London respectively, these two English towns are among the world’s first planned communities, and the cities that launched the Garden City Movement in the UK in the early 1920s.
https://www.wikiwand.com/en/articles/Welwyn_Garden_City
Howard’s Garden City movement quickly crossed the pond and onto U.S. soil inspiring early 1900s U.S. developments such as Forest Hills, NY, Radburn, NJ, and Rancho Santa Fe HOA in San Diego County, CA. While these early examples in both the UK and the U.S. were influenced by Howard’s Garden City principles, various economic, cultural, and practical factors led to adaptations and deviations from his original vision. 97 years after Howard’s death, the modern HOA bears little resemblance to the utopian model he envisioned.
Evan McKenzie’s Analysis: The Rise of Privatized Communities
Fast forward into the late 20th century, Evan McKenzie’s “Privatopia: Homeowner Associations and the Rise of Residential Private Government” (1994) delves into the emergence of private residential communities governed by homeowner associations (HOAs). McKenzie explores how these associations take on roles traditionally managed by public municipal governments, offering amenities and services within a privatized framework. While HOAs can provide efficient management and enhanced community features, McKenzie highlights potential drawbacks, including reduced civic engagement, social stratification, and challenges related to governance transparency.
https://pols.uic.edu/profiles/mckenzie-evan
Contrasting Ideals: Communal Ownership vs. Private Governance
Howard’s Garden City model emphasized communal land ownership and cooperative management, aiming to create equitable communities with shared responsibilities and benefits. In contrast, McKenzie’s analysis of HOAs in “Privatopia” reveals a shift towards privatized governance structures, where private entities manage community affairs, sometimes leading to exclusivity and diminished public oversight.
Revisiting Privatized Community Governance
In recent years, McKenzie has continued to examine the complexities of private community governance. His co-edited work, “Private Metropolis: The Eclipse of Local Democratic Governance” (2021), discusses the proliferation of “shadow governments” within metropolitan areas, including special authorities and public–private partnerships. These entities often operate beyond traditional democratic oversight, raising questions about accountability and public participation in community decision-making processes.
In this 2021 book, McKenzie collaborates with authors Dennis R. Judd and Alba Alexander to revisit the concept of privatized residential developments and in the process exposes the existence of “shadow governments” within many U.S. metropolitan regions. These entities, which include special authorities, public–private partnerships, and privatized gated communities, often assume roles traditionally held by municipal governments. While these structures can enhance efficiency and expedite decision-making, they frequently operate beyond the reach of standard democratic oversight, potentially sidelining public participation, and accountability.
Conclusion
The evolution from Ebenezer Howard’s idealistic Garden City utopian model to the privatized communities analyzed by McKenzie over a period of 27 years reflects broader societal shifts in addressing urbanization challenges. While Howard’s vision was rooted in communal cooperation and equitable development, the rise of privatized residential developments governed by the so-called “stakeholders” has resulted in profit-making opportunities for a select few and challenges for the vested homeowners in many privatized HOAs in the U.S., Canada, western Europe, and Australia.
The work of McKenzie and his contemporaries raises the question of whether Ebenezer Howard’s vision of a utopian “Garden City” has instead devolved into a dystopian residential development model a century later?
For more in-depth discussions on community planning and homeowner associations, explore our previous articles and stay tuned for upcoming posts.
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