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Essay

Cadbury built a city for workers—then gave it to them

It's still community-owned 100 years later.

· 16 February 2026 · 7 min

Part of Let Cities Build Utopia

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In the late 19th century, the social reformer Ebenezer Howard thought small communities should entirely self-govern—that we should create a world of self-sufficient city-states, each turning a profit so they could provide everything residents needed, including social welfare.

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