Elysian
Let Cities Build Utopia 1 Land should be a public good—not just private property 2 The Scottish island that bought itself 3 Cadbury built a city for workers—then gave it to them 4 Ebenezer Howard built a better city than the government 5 San Francisco should be profitable—instead property owners are 6 Disney World has more autonomy than any US city 7 Cities should own their land—like Vienna and Amsterdam 8 Singapore: Where your home loses value & everyone's better off 9 Stop idolizing Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and Próspera 10 An indigenous nation just built a better city than California Forever 11 Decentralize America: The case for cities that don't need Washington Own it Ebook Print

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

It's still community-owned 100 years later.

Elle Griffin · 16 February 2026 · 7 min

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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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