Re-Inventing the British New town for the 21st Century

 

Type: Collaborative PhD
Location: across 22 new towns in England//// Sponsor:AHRC ////////////Contract: 4 years
Status: ongoing ////////////// Completion: January 2012

In collaboration with The Architecture Foundation & Bartlett School of Planning

Re-inventing the British new Town

 

Hello and welcome to a New New Town! This is an ongoing research project about re-inventing the British New Town in light of current government proposals. Below is a short description of the project and an explanation of how to find information. This site is updated regularly, so come back if you want to know more…

 

The UK is currently leading one of the largest regeneration projects in Europe. It has designated four Growth Areas and a number of Growth Points throughout England that will become home to a series of new communities. The areas are not only concerned with meeting a housing shortage, and have as their principal objective to accommodate the economic success of the Greater South East (ODPM 2003). This is a programme about creating new and sustainable communities through building new infrastructure, linking to existing urban centres, providing new jobs and strengthening the local economy of each area. It is an ambitious programme that goes beyond building new homes.

Within this context, the Architecture Foundation & Kingston University have initiated a three-year research programme into what it is the most relevant building strategy that can inform the Growth Areas today: the New Towns Programme.   Under a brave new post-war Britain, The New Towns Act of 1946 was passed to address a major national housing shortage problem- a programme not only for the reconstruction of the built environment, but also for the creation of a fairer society. These were comprehensively planned towns aiming to become pioneering examples of modern planning with a strong vision –some argue a paternalistic vision- of the type of communities that would live there. The New Towns programme eventually led to the construction of 21 new towns in England, five in Scotland, two in Wales and four in Northern Ireland. Whether the new towns are successful is still a debatable issue. What is clear -regardless of their success or failure- is that the new towns were built with a strong vision and incredibly ambitious targets.

 

By studying the New Towns programme, its legacy and its transferable lessons, this project is setting the scene for a much-needed discussion on how the Growth Areas could be developed.

Where can you find information?

 

This site has been developed as a work-in progress. Information is added constantly and is bound to change.