The New Towns Programme of 1946 to 1970 was one of the most substantial periods of urban development in Britain. The New Towns have often been described as a social experiment; so what has this experiment proved? This book covers the story of how these towns came to be built, how they aged, and the challenges and opportunities they now face as they begin phases of renewal. The new approaches in design throughout their past development reflect changes in society throughout the latter half of the twentieth century. These changes are now at the heart of the challenge of sustainable development. The New Towns provide lessons for social, economic and environmental sustainability. These lessons are of great relevance for the regeneration of twentieth century urbanism and the creation of new urban developments today.

The New Towns Programme of 1946 to 1970 represents one of the most substantial periods of urban development in Britain. This text covers the story of how these towns came to be built, how they aged, and the challenges and opportunities they now face as they begin phases of renewal.

This book explores the evolution of New Towns in France and the UK in a number of areas (governance, planning and heritage) and assess whether their legacy can inspire current planned settlements.

Explores the phenomenon of the mass movement of people away from town and city centres to live in new estates and towns built since World War II. Using sociology, town-planning materials, oral history and other sources, this book examines the making of modern suburbia.

In this concise survey, Helen Meller aims to explore the interaction of the social and physical environment of cities. All modern societies have experienced mass urbanisation, and have been subject to the economic, social and technological forces which have produced this urbanisation. Yet all towns and cities are not the same. The author points out that historical and cultural factors have played, and are still playing, an important part in shaping responses to these forces. This becomes even more clearly evident when the urban environment becomes subject to planning. Urban regeneration has facilitated not just an improvement in the physical environment of cities but in their economic and social fortunes as well. This study is an accessible analysis of the way in which social, cultural and physical factors have created the quality of life in British cities over the past two centuries.

First published in 1979. Concern about the processes at work in Britain’s urban areas, coupled with steep declines in the population projections, led to a review of urban and regional policies in the mid-1970s, with major implications for the new towns as an element of national policy. The various stages and the conclusions of this re-appraisal are discussed, and the new towns’ role in the supposed ‘urban crisis’ is analysed. This title will be of interest to students of urban studies and development.

Examines the changing aspects of settlement and urbanization in the modern world, particularly in Great Britain. Suggested level: senior secondary.