Keeffe, Greg

The New towns initiative in the UK and Northern Ireland, enshrined in the Act of 1946, was derived out of a stream of philosophical thought that was a reaction to modernity, paritcularly Victorian industrialisation. This was developed through the writings of Ruskin and Morris and crystalised by Ebenezer Howard in his book Garden Cities of Tomorrow, which culminated with the design of Letchworth by Parker and Unwin (completed 1914). Letchworth however, was a more than just a physical and spatial entity: it was actually a policyscape, a novel economic and social policy landscape that regulated development in a modern and scientific way. These themes of the scientification of urban design, and the regulation of urban development through policy, run through the whole New Town movement, right up to the development of the eco-towns of today. New Towns, in fact, can be seen as an embodiment of modernity, as well as a reaction to it . <br/

Queen's University Belfast Research Portal

Utopia Incomplete: British New Towns and CraigavonKeeffe, G., & McCabe, R. (Ed.) (2014). Utopia Incomplete: British New Towns and Craigavon. In Craigavon NewTown (pp. 31-38). Belfast : PLACE Architecture and Built Environment Centre for Northern Ireland, Belfast.Published in:Craigavon New TownDocument Version:Peer reviewed versionQueen's University Belfast - Research Portal:Link to publication record in Queen's University Belfast Research PortalGeneral rightsCopyright for the publications made accessible via the Queen's University Belfast Research Portal is retained by the author(s) and / or othercopyright owners and it is a condition of accessing these publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associatedwith these rights.Take down policyThe Research Portal is Queen's institutional repository that provides access to Queen's research output. Every effort has been made toensure that content in the Research Portal does not infringe any person's rights, or applicable UK laws. If you discover content in theResearch Portal that you believe breaches copyright or violates any law, please contact openaccess@qub.ac.uk.Download date:09. Sep. 2018Utopia	  Incomplete:	  	  British	  New	  Towns	  and	  Craigavon.	  	  ‘It’s	  hard	  to	  imagine,	  that	  nothing	  at	  all	  Could	  be	  so	  exciting	  and	  so	  much	  fun.	  Heaven	  is	  a	  place	  where	  nothing	  ever	  happens.’	  	  	  	  Heaven	  by	  Talking	  Heads	  1979.	  	  The	  New	  towns	  initiative	  in	  the	  UK	  and	  Northern	  Ireland,	  enshrined	  in	  the	  Act	  of	  1946,	  was	  derived	  out	  of	  a	  stream	  of	  philosophical	  thought	  that	  was	  a	  reaction	  to	  modernity,	  paritcularly	  Victorian	  industrialisation.	  	  This	  was	  developed	  through	  the	  writings	  of	  Ruskin	  and	  Morris	  and	  crystalised	  by	  Ebenezer	  Howard	  in	  his	  book	  Garden	  Cities	  of	  Tomorrow,	  which	  culminated	  with	  the	  design	  of	  Letchworth	  by	  Parker	  and	  Unwin	  (completed	  1914).	  	  Letchworth	  however,	  was	  a	  more	  than	  just	  a	  physical	  and	  spatial	  entity:	  it	  was	  actually	  a	  policyscape,	  a	  novel	  economic	  and	  social	  policy	  landscape	  that	  regulated	  development	  in	  a	  modern	  and	  scientific	  way.	  	  	  	  	  These	  themes	  of	  the	  scientification	  of	  urban	  design,	  and	  the	  regulation	  of	  urban	  development	  through	  policy,	  run	  through	  the	  whole	  New	  Town	  movement,	  right	  up	  to	  the	  development	  of	  the	  eco-­‐towns	  of	  today.	  	  	  	  New	  Towns,	  in	  fact,	  can	  be	  seen	  as	  an	  embodiment	  of	  modernity,	  as	  well	  as	  a	  reaction	  to	  it	  .	  	  	  From	  the	  movement’s	  ambivalent	  beginnings	  in	  its	  reaction	  to	  the	  industrialised	  city,	  and	  its	  engagement	  with	  design	  and	  control	  through	  regulation	  and	  structure,	  the	  New	  Town	  has	  celebrated	  a	  particular	  British	  aesthetic,	  one	  of	  domesticity;	  modesty	  and	  quiet	  efficiency.	  	  Yet	  on	  the	  other	  hand	  New	  Towns	  also	  celebrate	  the	  abstract	  nature	  of	  the	  modernism	  of	  ‘Le	  Modulor’	  and	  its	  ideas	  of	  the	  generic	  and	  the	  regulated,	  right	  through	  to	  the	  conflicting	  user	  experience	  of	  total	  space,	  where	  nothing	  is	  left	  to	  chance,	  except	  the	  promotion	  of	  alienation	  and	  banality.	  	  This	  idea	  of	  ‘engineered’	  space,	  rather	  than	  planned	  or	  emergent	  space	  has	  led	  to	  the	  creation	  of	  unusual	  and	  unique	  urban	  conditions.	  	  Engineered	  space	  has	  at	  its	  core	  the	  idea	  of	  efficiency	  and	  the	  measured:	  	  designed	  or	  emergent	  space,	  on	  the	  other	  hand,	  is	  about	  effectiveness	  and	  often	  the	  unmeasurable.	  	  This	  is	  the	  problem	  of	  the	  New	  Town,	  but	  also	  its	  joy:	  	  we	  can	  only	  engineer	  what	  we	  can	  measure,	  and	  in	  the	  city	  we	  can	  never	  measure	  enough.	  Because	  it	  was	  obvious	  and	  could	  be	  measured,	  early	  modernity	  looked	  particularly	  at	  mobility	  as	  the	  measurable	  driver	  of	  urbanism.	  	  Mobility	  (seen	  as	  traffic)	  could	  be	  counted,	  modeled,	  regulated	  and	  used	  to	  shape	  the	  city.	  	  	  Thus	  as	  befits	  its	  century,	  the	  New	  Town	  movement	  was	  a	  celebration	  of	  motorised	  transport	  and	  each	  type	  of	  town	  plan	  (there	  were	  3	  waves)	  engaged	  with	  mobility	  in	  different	  ways	  and	  made	  new	  urban	  forms	  out	  of	  these	  engagements.	  	  	  As	  stated	  above,	  the	  forerunner	  of	  the	  New	  Town	  was	  Parker	  and	  Unwin’s	  Letchworth,	  built	  from	  1909	  to	  1919.	  	  The	  town	  was	  derived	  from	  an	  idea	  that	  the	  city	  could	  be	  a	  corporation,	  and	  more	  than	  this,	  a	  business.	  	  Once	  the	  city	  was	  seen	  as	  a	  business,	  it	  could	  then	  be	  managed	  using	  theories	  of	  scientific	  management,	  which	  were	  in	  vogue:	  everything	  would	  be	  measured,	  optimised	  and	  controlled,	  and	  things	  would	  be	  done	  efficiently.	  	  This	  efficiency	  was	  manifest	  in	  an	  obsession	  with	  traffic	  flow	  and	  congestion,	  	  the	  study	  of	  which	  invented	  the	  Roundabout	  as	  a	  new	  urban	  form.	  	  	  The	  roundabout	  was	  based	  on	  the	  design	  of	  mechanised	  factory	  production	  lines	  like	  those	  for	  filling	  milk	  bottles	  or	  making	  chocolate	  bars.	  	  	  At	  the	  time	  it	  was	  a	  very	  radical	  move	  and	  even	  today	  the	  otherworldliness	  of	  this	  first	  roundabout	  is	  celebrated	  in	  cinema	  in	  Simon	  Pegg’s	  zombie	  apocalypse	  ‘The	  Worlds	  End’	  (2013).	  	  During	  the	  Second	  World	  War,	  there	  was	  much	  contemplation	  by	  architects	  about	  urban	  renewal.	  	  Bombing	  had	  seriously	  damaged	  cities	  and	  there	  was	  finally	  a	  chance	  for	  radical	  change.	  	  Much	  of	  this	  change	  was	  focused	  on	  new	  and	  better	  ways	  of	  living	  (such	  as	  the	  Manchester	  Plan	  1945),	  and	  new	  ways	  of	  mobility	  and	  slum	  clearance	  were	  to	  be	  the	  drivers	  of	  this	  change.	  	  Car	  (and	  bus)	  usage	  had	  grown	  rapidly	  between	  the	  Wars	  and	  cities	  were	  near	  breaking	  point	  with	  traffic.	  	  The	  first	  New	  Towns	  (Type	  1)	  obsessed	  about	  the	  car.	  	  Extrapolations	  of	  car-­‐usage	  into	  the	  future	  created	  terrifying	  clogged	  futures	  for	  cities.	  The	  Abercrombie	  Plan	  of	  1945	  suggested	  a	  ring	  of	  new	  towns	  around	  London	  to	  deal	  with	  the	  problem	  of	  congestion.	  	  Stevenage,	  the	  first	  of	  these,	  looked	  to	  solve	  the	  problem	  of	  the	  car	  before	  it	  happened.	  	  In	  order	  to	  do	  this	  its	  designers	  looked	  to	  Europe	  for	  answers:	  in	  Rotterdam	  the	  Lijnbaan,	  a	  traffic-­‐free	  shopping	  centre	  had	  been	  designed.	  	  Stevenage	  was	  to	  get	  one	  too.	  	  In	  the	  socialist	  rapture	  of	  the	  post-­‐war	  world,	  Labour	  Minister	  Lewis	  Silkin	  appointed	  a	  radical	  town-­‐planner	  Dr	  Monica	  Felton	  to	  oversee	  (Felton	  was	  later	  sacked	  for	  supporting	  Russia	  in	  the	  Korean	  War	  and	  received	  the	  Stalin	  Peace	  Medal!)	  .	  	  The	  town	  was	  for	  a	  time	  known	  as	  Silkingrad	  due	  to	  the	  socialistic	  principles	  than	  generated	  its	  form.	  	  Later	  in	  the	  1960s	  the	  vacuous	  town	  would	  be	  celebrated	  in	  the	  film	  ‘Here	  we	  go	  round	  the	  Mulberry	  Bush’	  a	  pathetic	  romcom	  about	  the	  banality	  of	  life	  stuck	  in	  a	  small	  town,	  whilst	  London	  was	  swinging.	  	  In	  an	  ironic	  twist,	  the	  theme	  song	  of	  the	  film	  was	  performed	  by	  the	  band	  Traffic.	  	  Later	  New	  Towns	  (Type	  2)	  separated	  further	  the	  car	  from	  the	  person.	  	  Based	  on	  Colin	  Buchanan’s	  seminal	  Traffic	  in	  Towns,	  Runcorn	  completes	  the	  evolution	  of	  traffic-­‐free	  shopping	  by	  replacing	  the	  town	  centre	  with	  an	  indoor	  shopping	  mall	  and	  car	  park.	  	  	  The	  shopping	  mall	  becomes	  the	  new	  materialistic	  hub	  of	  the	  town,	  and	  is	  placed	  at	  the	  centre	  of	  a	  partly	  elevated,	  figure-­‐of-­‐eight	  urban	  expressway	  for	  buses.	  	  The	  boredom	  of	  living	  in	  a	  place	  with	  no	  real	  public	  realm	  is	  celebrated	  in	  the	  surreal	  and	  hyper-­‐localised	  2001-­‐11	  BBC	  TV	  sitcom	  “Two	  pints	  of	  lager	  and	  a	  packet	  of	  crisps”.	  	  	  	  The	  Scottish	  New	  Town	  of	  Cumbernauld	  takes	  the	  centrist	  idea	  to	  the	  limit	  by	  placing	  all	  the	  shopping	  and	  administrative	  functions	  of	  the	  town	  in	  a	  huge	  cantilevering	  megastructure.	  	  The	  town	  also	  has	  complete	  grade-­‐separation,	  meaning	  pedestrians	  and	  cars	  were	  kept	  totally	  apart,	  on	  different	  networks.	  	  The	  town	  was	  designed	  by	  Geoffrey	  Copcutt	  who	  later	  went	  on	  to	  design	  Craigavon,	  and	  is	  celebrated	  in	  the	  1980s	  Bill	  Forsyth	  film	  about	  small-­‐time,	  dumb	  teenage	  romance,	  Gregory’s	  Girl.	  	  	  	  	  The	  New	  Town	  movement	  reached	  a	  pinnacle	  in	  the	  late	  1970’s	  with	  the	  Type	  3	  towns.	  Milton	  Keynes	  shies	  away	  from	  the	  problems	  created	  by	  the	  centrist	  and	  grade-­‐separatist	  ideas	  of	  the	  earlier	  towns,	  and	  creates	  the	  exact	  opposite:	  	  non-­‐hierarchical	  planning	  around	  a	  gridded	  urban	  form,	  with	  copious	  roundabouts.	  	  The	  town	  has	  an	  ambivalent	  relationship	  with	  its	  surroundings	  –	  and	  being	  low	  density	  there	  is	  a	  large	  amount	  of	  grass-­‐land,	  its	  redundancy	  famously	  celebrated	  by	  the	  installation	  of	  life-­‐size,	  concrete	  cows.	  	  The	  town	  too	  is	  celebrated	  in	  film:	  in	  Superman	  IV	  its	  railway	  station	  is	  mocked	  up	  as	  the	  United	  Nations	  Headquarters	  where	  our	  superhero	  addresses	  the	  Council.	  	  Rather	  like	  the	  figure-­‐of-­‐eight	  busway	  in	  Runcorn,	  this	  brings	  us	  in	  a	  roundabout	  way	  to	  Craigavon.	  	  Designed	  by	  Geoffrey	  Copcutt	  after	  Cumbernauld,	  Craigavon	  has	  another	  interesting	  traffic-­‐orientated	  form:	  that	  of	  a	  linear	  city	  joined	  by	  a	  motorway.	  	  This	  ex-­‐urbs	  form	  is	  a	  precursor	  to	  that	  which	  is	  now	  dominating	  the	  U.S.A	  around	  places	  like	  Tyson’s	  Corner,	  but	  theirs,	  unlike	  ours,	  is	  emergent	  and	  unplanned.	  	  Craigavon	  is	  different	  in	  that	  the	  intensity	  that	  creates	  the	  American	  ex-­‐urbs	  is	  not	  present;	  in	  the	  polite,	  diffuse	  urbanism	  of	  Craigavon	  nothing	  really	  sparks.	  	  The	  town	  once	  again	  is	  celebrated	  in	  celluloid,	  this	  time	  in	  the	  gritty	  2008	  film	  Peacefire,	  an	  urban	  noir	  film	  about	  car	  stealing,	  police-­‐informants,	  loyalty	  and	  family	  history.	  	  In	  the	  end,	  the	  New	  Town	  movement	  was	  considered	  a	  marginal	  success;	  yes	  the	  towns	  were	  occupied,	  but	  often	  in	  spite	  of	  the	  engineered	  landscape,	  rather	  than	  because	  of	  it.	  	  People	  live	  and	  dwell,	  and	  they	  make	  things	  work,	  urbanists	  need	  to	  remember	  that.	  	  Many	  think	  these	  new	  towns	  seem	  banal	  because	  they	  are	  without	  a	  history,	  but	  that	  is	  not	  the	  case:	  they	  are	  banal	  because	  a	  life	  engineered	  is	  banal.	  	  This	  is	  because	  it	  is	  the	  rough	  edges	  of	  things	  that	  make	  them	  interesting	  and	  personal,	  and	  in	  these	  towns	  all	  the	  rough	  edges	  have	  all	  been	  engineered	  out.	  	  	  The	  towns	  are	  immortalized	  in	  films	  partly	  due	  to	  the	  otherworldliness	  caused	  by	  this	  erasure,	  but	  also	  because	  of	  their	  perfect	  embodiment	  of	  a	  banality	  that	  is	  everyday	  life.	  	  Unfortunately	  we	  have	  learned	  precious	  little	  from	  the	  experience,	  worse	  places	  are	  still	  being	  built,	  Poundbury	  in	  Dorset	  championed	  by	  Prince	  Charles	  is	  one:	  a	  place	  where	  extreme	  aesthetic	  control	  of	  your	  neighbour’s	  house	  and	  garden	  (and	  	  even	  leisure-­‐time	  –	  caravans	  are	  banned)	  replaces	  normal	  societal	  structures,	  and	  the	  new	  eco-­‐towns	  like	  Bicester,	  where	  the	  	  only	  concession	  to	  the	  eco	  is	  the	  replacement	  of	  the	  garden	  wall	  with	  the	  hedge.	  	  	  	  So	  when	  next	  you’re	  in	  Craigavon,	  enjoy	  it	  for	  what	  it	  is:	  a	  utopia	  incomplete.	  	  In	  that	  regard	  it’s	  so	  much	  better	  than	  the	  new	  estates	  that	  are	  popping	  up	  all	  over	  these	  Islands,	  because	  it	  was	  designed	  with	  an	  ethos	  about	  living	  in	  the	  future:	  	  it	  just	  happens	  to	  be	  a	  shame	  that	  the	  future	  it	  was	  designed	  for	  never	  happened.	  	  And,	  as	  Theo	  Crosby	  later	  pointed	  out,	  ‘Grass	  is	  the	  enemy	  of	  cities’.	  	  Professor	  Greg	  Keeffe.	  	  Director	  of	  Research,	  Architecture	  at	  Queens.	  Belfast.	  March	  2015.	  	  	  Further	  reading	  	  Howard,	  E.	  	  Garden	  Cities	  of	  Tomorrow	  	  	  1909.	  Taylor	  T.W.	  	  Principles	  of	  Scientific	  Management	  Harper	  1911.	  	  Le	  Corbusier,	  	  The	  Modulor.	  Birkhauser	  2000	  Nicholls,	  J.	  	  The	  Manchester	  Plan	  1945,	  MCC	  1945.	  	  Buchanan,	  C.	  	  	  Traffic	  in	  Towns.	  	  HMSO	  1963.	  Osborn,	  F.J.	  	  Osborn:	  New	  Towns	  answer	  megalopolis	  	  MIT	  Press	  USA	  1970.	  Evans	  H.	  New	  Towns:	  British	  experience	  C.Knight	  London1972.	  Crosby,	  T.	  The	  necessary	  monument	  .	  Studio	  Vista	  1970.	  	  Music	  Talking	  Heads,	  	  Heaven.	  	  Fear	  of	  music.	  	  Sire	  Records	  1979.	  	  Films	  Pegg,	  S.	  The	  Worlds	  End.	  Universal	  2013	  Forsyth,	  B.	  	  Gregory’s	  Girl.	  Lake	  Films	  1981	  Vallely,	  M.	  	  Peacefire.	  	  Mayfly	  2009	  Donner,	  C,	  	  Here	  we	  go	  round	  the	  Mulberry	  Bush.	  	  	  Giant	  Films	  1968.	  Furey,	  S.J.	  Superman	  IV:	  The	  quest	  for	  Peace.	  	  Cannon	  Films	  1987.	  	  

Utopia Incomplete: British New Towns and Craigavon

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Utopia Incomplete: British New Towns and Craigavon

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