In the third blog from our series on the next generation of New Towns, Rowan Gilbert explains why there must be a guiding holistic vision for delivering new communities
The garden cities and New Towns show how crucial a strong, shared vision is to the delivery and legacy of new communities.
In To-morrow: a Peaceful Path to Real Reform, Ebenezer Howard established his vision for Garden Cities. He detailed the ideal size, the structure of a ‘social city’ where several garden cities are linked by public transport to provide all the opportunities of a large city, and the approach to stewardship where increasing land values fund continued improvements and maintenance.
But as well as some of these more practical elements, his vision was essentially a utopian approach to building and justice, where all residents could benefit from the best of town and country: with access to high quality social housing, fair employment, cultural and community activities and the great outdoors. This vision was a holistic development model based on equity and democracy and is much larger than simply a set of design standards.
A social city, To-morrow: a peaceful path to real reform
The resulting Garden Cities, Letchworth and Welwyn, were designed through a long-term holistic approach with people at the heart and remain popular places to live to this day.
The visionary approach continued after the second World War, with the planning and delivery of the New Towns, which were heavily influenced by the Garden City model. The strength of vision was shown by Lewis Silkin, the newly appointed minister of Town and Country Planning, who set out his lofty ambitions:
‘Our aim must be to combine in the new town the friendly spirit of the former slum with the vastly improved health conditions of the new estate, but it must be a broadened spirit, embracing all classes of society … We may well produce in the new towns a new type of citizen, a healthy, self respecting dignified person with a sense of beauty, culture and civic pride’1.
In Health, Hope and Prosperity, the TCPA’s vision for healthy new towns, we reflect on the lessons from historic attempts and the importance of vision today. ‘A clearly expressed vision for a new community is essential for successful outcomes. A vision acts as both an inspirational goal and as a discipline by providing a benchmark against which to test the outcomes.’2
We face many of the same crises today as in the post war period, with inadequate housing and huge social inequalities, confounded further by the climate crisis and a widespread distrust of both the development system and the government. If we are to withstand these challenges, we must plan with them in mind, through a holistic vision of how we want to live and build going forward.
New towns are not a one-size-fits-all solution, and nor are they a silver bullet to solve the housing crises. They must be informed and shaped by local contexts and delivered alongside a wider package of measures. But a vision isn’t prescriptive, as highlighted by our vision for new towns:
‘where everyone can thrive – economically, socially and environmentally, where all basic needs to secure physical, mental and social health and wellbeing are met, where people have real agency over their lives and where the other diverse artistic, cultural and spiritual needs of human beings, the things that which make life worth living, are enabled’3
This vision is built upon the Garden City Principles, which distil the elements which made the Garden City model so successful and apply them to 21st Century challenges.
The Garden City Principles, Health, Hope and Prosperity: a vision for Healthy New Towns
We are clear on our vision, but it is crucial that the vision for new towns is shared, so it should be developed through a national conversation. This is essential to building places that fit the needs of future generations and to build back trust amongst communities.
This is why we have developed our new vision for 21st Century New Towns, which is designed to help communities consider and express what they want from new towns. We hope this resource will be a call to action to reimagine what’s possible for the next generation of new towns and enable local communities to demand high-quality, healthy and sustainable places. The vision is being launched online on 23 June, register for your place at the event here.
