“Newer” Towns

The New Town movement is remembered in the minds of many as a historical relic of a bygone era; British overspill cities on the verge of economic ruin, the government meddling one step too far into the development of housing for the surging populace. Indeed, one familiar with the concept of New Towns would be quick to point out the many flaws and drawbacks of the scheme. And while these flaws are certainly damnable, it might not be fair to give up on the New Town movement so quickly. As the global population continues to grow, one has to consider just how far we push our current cities, and at what point it's better to branch off and create something novel- a “Newer” Town. 

New Town’s fascinate in that they also allow us to start from the ground up. Problems of fitting in bike lanes to existing streets or expanding transit to city suburbs is countered by the fact that there are no existing streets, and no hour-long-commute-to-downtown suburbia. Before us is a blank canvas to shape- and potentially prove- that new planning ideas can flourish, so long as the environment is built to embrace them. 

Of course, it is easy to want to play a god, constructing a master plan of the utopian city of the future. In reality, we still need to consider how to essentially kickstart an economy in a completely new location, without having residents commuting back into the major hubs (a key issue with the original New Town movement). Along with this, these Newer Towns need to be desirable places to live; people should be interested in living there, not forced or pressured to move there. Essentially, the natural aspects which make places attractive to live in need to be simulated in such a manner which one wouldn’t be able to tell the place even is a New Town to begin with.

So, while it may seem counterintuitive, it might be time to dust off these old planning ventures and bring them back into the public eye. There were certainly failures with this system in the past, but what is the point of these failures if we do not learn and adapt from them? With housing and development on the minds of many nowadays, let's try something new(er). 

Written by Cole Swanson, photo courtesy of The Times. 

Other source(s): https://monocle.com/radio/shows/the-urbanist/417/