London's Century-Old Idea to Address Its Affordable Housing Crisis

London was promised Britain's first "Garden City" in 100 years this week. As announced by Chancellor George Osborne, a brand new town, with 15,000 new homes, will be built in the riverside Ebbsfleet area, an ex-industrial district beyond London's official limits but still fewer than 20 minutes by train from its center.

The chancellor’s announcement is opportune: London is currently desperate for affordable housing. The current schemes for coping with the city's housing problems, however, seem to be pulling the city in several directions at once. Indeed, London's housing development problems mirror the difficulties many big cities have: the city wants more new, affordable homes, but it doesn’t want to eat into developers' profits or deflate the housing market.