affirmed by Bernard Shaw, co-founder of the London School of Economics, who referred to his investments in the Garden City Movement as "entirely satisfactory, both economically and morally." Garden Cities and New Towns The New Town Movement was derived from the Garden City Movement, founded by Ebenezer Howard in the late 1800s, as an alternative to the overcrowded, polluted, chaotic and miserable industrial cities that had appeared in Britain. Towards the end of World War I, a group called the "New Townsmen" was formed, including members like Ebenezer Howard, F.J. Osborn, C.B. Purdom and W.G. Taylor. They began advocating for the development of 100 new cities to be built by the government. F. J. Osborn If Howard is the "father" of Garden Cities, then Frederick J. Osborn is his "son" as champion of the New Towns. Osborn was born in 1885 and spent the majority of his life arguing the case for New Towns. Like Howard, he had quite a modest education, having never attended a university. In his early 30s, after meeting Howard through his job at the Howard Cottage Society, he took to the campaign for New Towns. The initial campaigns for the establishment of New Towns failed. Although housing was built, it was often in the form of a "garden suburb", or located on the edge of the existing cities – the antithesis of the Garden City idea. With an increasing lack of faith in the government to take up the flag for public housing and new towns, Howard suggested to Osborn that he was wasting his time lobbying government, and that he would be "as old as Methuselah" waiting for action. Beginnings of reform In 1909 a greater understanding of the "urban disease" saw Britain's first town planning legislation created. Although technically opposed to fringe development, the Housing, Town Planning, &c. Act 1909 did not prevent it. Instead, in light of recent success with the development of Hampstead Garden Suburb, the Act, realising that suburbs were easier to develop than towns, held the ethos that good suburbs were better than bad ones. Although planners of the day wanted new towns, they were busy dealing with the demand for suburbs: "it is difficult for a technician to earn a living in an ivory tower" Moreover, new towns required government direction, which was beyond the scope of municipal powers alone. Towards the end of World War I, the