Broadacre City
Encyclopedia
Broadacre City was an urban or suburban development concept proposed by Frank Lloyd Wright
throughout most of his lifetime. He presented the idea in his book The Disappearing City in 1932. A few years later he unveiled a very detailed twelve by twelve foot (3.7 × 3.7 m) scale model representing a hypothetical four square mile (10 km²) community. The model was crafted by the student interns who worked for him at Taliesin
. Wright went on to refine the concept in later books and in articles until his death in 1959.
Many of the building models in the concept were completely new designs by Wright, while others were refinements of old ones, some of which had been rarely seen.
Broadacre City was the antithesis of a city and the apotheosis
of the newly born suburbia
, shaped through Wright's particular vision. It was both a planning statement and a socio-political scheme by which each U.S.
family would be given a one acre
(4,000 m²) plot of land from the federal lands reserves, and a Wright-conceived community would be built anew from this. In a sense it was the exact opposite of transit-oriented development
. There is a train station and a few office and apartment buildings in Broadacre City, but the apartment dwellers are expected to be a small minority. All important transport is done by automobile
and the pedestrian
can exist safely only within the confines of the one acre (4,000 m²) plots where most of the population dwells.
Some of the earlier garden city
ideas of the landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted
and the urban planner Ebenezer Howard
had much in common with Broadacre City, save for the absence of the automobile, born much later.
More recently, the development of the Edge city
is like an unplanned, incomplete version of Broadacre city.
The R. W. Lindholm Service Station
in Cloquet, Minnesota
shows some of Wright's ideas for Broadacre City.
Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures and completed 500 works. Wright believed in designing structures which were in harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture...
throughout most of his lifetime. He presented the idea in his book The Disappearing City in 1932. A few years later he unveiled a very detailed twelve by twelve foot (3.7 × 3.7 m) scale model representing a hypothetical four square mile (10 km²) community. The model was crafted by the student interns who worked for him at Taliesin
Taliesin (studio)
Taliesin , near Spring Green, Wisconsin, was the summer home of American architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Wright began the building in 1911 after leaving his first wife, Catherine Tobin, and his Oak Park, Illinois, home and studio in 1909. The impetus behind Wright's departure was his affair with...
. Wright went on to refine the concept in later books and in articles until his death in 1959.
Many of the building models in the concept were completely new designs by Wright, while others were refinements of old ones, some of which had been rarely seen.
Broadacre City was the antithesis of a city and the apotheosis
Apotheosis
Apotheosis is the glorification of a subject to divine level. The term has meanings in theology, where it refers to a belief, and in art, where it refers to a genre.In theology, the term apotheosis refers to the idea that an individual has been raised to godlike stature...
of the newly born suburbia
SubUrbia
subUrbia is a play by Eric Bogosian chronicling the nighttime activities of a group of aimless 20-somethings still living in their suburban Boston hometown and their reunion with a former high school classmate who has become a successful musician...
, shaped through Wright's particular vision. It was both a planning statement and a socio-political scheme by which each U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
family would be given a one acre
Acre
The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related...
(4,000 m²) plot of land from the federal lands reserves, and a Wright-conceived community would be built anew from this. In a sense it was the exact opposite of transit-oriented development
Transit-oriented development
A transit-oriented development is a mixed-use residential or commercial area designed to maximize access to public transport, and often incorporates features to encourage transit ridership...
. There is a train station and a few office and apartment buildings in Broadacre City, but the apartment dwellers are expected to be a small minority. All important transport is done by automobile
Automobile
An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...
and the pedestrian
Pedestrian
A pedestrian is a person traveling on foot, whether walking or running. In some communities, those traveling using roller skates or skateboards are also considered to be pedestrians. In modern times, the term mostly refers to someone walking on a road or footpath, but this was not the case...
can exist safely only within the confines of the one acre (4,000 m²) plots where most of the population dwells.
Some of the earlier garden city
Garden city movement
The garden city movement is a method of urban planning that was initiated in 1898 by Sir Ebenezer Howard in the United Kingdom. Garden cities were intended to be planned, self-contained communities surrounded by "greenbelts" , containing proportionate areas of residences, industry and...
ideas of the landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted
Frederick Law Olmsted
Frederick Law Olmsted was an American journalist, social critic, public administrator, and landscape designer. He is popularly considered to be the father of American landscape architecture, although many scholars have bestowed that title upon Andrew Jackson Downing...
and the urban planner Ebenezer Howard
Ebenezer Howard
Sir Ebenezer Howard is known for his publication Garden Cities of To-morrow , the description of a utopian city in which people live harmoniously together with nature. The publication resulted in the founding of the garden city movement, that realized several Garden Cities in Great Britain at the...
had much in common with Broadacre City, save for the absence of the automobile, born much later.
More recently, the development of the Edge city
Edge city
"Edge city" is an American term for a concentration of business, shopping, and entertainment outside a traditional urban area in what had recently been a residential suburb or semi-rural community...
is like an unplanned, incomplete version of Broadacre city.
The R. W. Lindholm Service Station
R. W. Lindholm Service Station
The R.W. Lindholm Service Station in Cloquet, Minnesota, USA, is derived from a design by famous American architect Frank Lloyd Wright as part of his Broadacre City project, a Utopian vision of a new type of urban landscape...
in Cloquet, Minnesota
Cloquet, Minnesota
As of the census of 2000, there were 11,201 people, 4,636 households, and 2,967 families residing in the city. The population density was 317.9 people per square mile . There were 4,805 housing units at an average density of 136.4 per square mile...
shows some of Wright's ideas for Broadacre City.