Nettlefold, J.S.
Garden cities and canals.
London, The St.Catherine Press 1914.
Full Description
8vo. xiii + (1) + 220pp. Publisher’s printed boards, spine patchily discoloured.
Only edition of this unfamiliar book by John Sutton Nettlefold (1866-1930), a Birmingham industrialist and social reformer, best known as the author of books on housing and town planning based on his experience as chairman of Birmingham’s City Housing Committee. Here he focuses partly on garden cities and partly on the potential role of inland waterways in the future UK economy, arguing that they would be more beneficial than railways in reducing transport costs and would encourage the dispersal of industry from existing urban communities to new townships built alongside the lines of the waterways on garden city principles. His proposals were overtaken by the outbreak of the 1914-18 war, but have an interest as being probably the last serious attempt to persuade the public that development of the canal system would be a key to future economic prosperity.