Welwyn Garden City is about 30 minutes ride on the train from London, a town from early 20th century. All houses are built in Georgean taste. The area has been able to keep the beautiful unity and safe community because of the traditionaly strong residents' association. The picture above is of a big park running through the center of the town.
The reason why I came to this town was because I happened to know the chairman of the residents' association. There is a town developed in Japan based on Welwyn called Chishirodai Welwyn Garden City. I met him as an interpreter at the opening ceremony of this development area. It is in the Chiba prefecture, about two hours from central Tokyo. It was the first residencial development in Chiba to recieve a Certificate for Sustainable Development. They are making several eco-friendly attempts, such as using solar energy for street lamps and recycled material pavements. 
So here I came, to see the original town. It was very interesting to see the houses from the 1910s, the whole plan of town and also the struggle between residents' association and town hall or new coming large capitals. It is of course important to plan and keep the architecture style, but the effort and organization of residents' to keep their own town beautiful and in harmony with nearby nature is even more important. The house of Mr. Marks was also just wonderful, and I really enjoyed the nice stay with his family. Many thanks to John, Ruth and Vicky!
Welwyn Garden City, Japan
http://www.nomu.com/new/chishirodai/
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