Plans for post‐war housing in the UK: The case for mixed development and the flat

Bullock, Nicholas

doi:10.1080/02665438708725632

Cited by 9 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…Elizabeth Denby, one of Britain's most influential housing commentators, was especially keen on this example. 10 Britain's New Towns were consequently designed to blend the privacy of the family house with the perceived communitarian advantages of these facilities. 11 Medium-sized residential units of between 5,000 and 10,000 people were therefore placed far apart in the New Towns of the 1940s and '60s.…”

Section: 'Neighbourhood Unit' and Planned Region?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Social democratic space: the politics of building in ‘Golden Age’ Britain, c.1950–1973

O’Hara

2006

Arq

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The concept of 'space' is fluid, contingent upon the circumstances of the moment. Sociologists have demonstrated how ideas of place can arise, change, even disappear in the age of the Internet and the fast jet engine. They have also shown how the concept of space can be used to analyse problems as diverse as normative ideas, pathological fears, and professional and political power. 1 In that last vein, David Harvey argued in 1973 that 'created space […] reflects the prevailing ideology of the ruling groups [… it] is an integral part of an intricate sign-process that gives direction and meaning to daily life'. 2 Harvey's insight came at the high-point of Marxism's influence in the social sciences. But it also gave expression to a remarkable collapse in confidence in the objectivity of governments at a time when even the most optimistic writers accept that 'Britain seemed to be in a state of collapse'. 3 This was a remarkable descent from the optimism of the post-war world. As Minister of Health Aneurin Bevan declared, when he laid the foundation stone of the Spa Green Estate in Finsbury in July 1946: 'we are going to […] rebuild Britain […] with cities that will be the joy of generations to come'. 4 How and why had this great sea-change occurred?This ideology of the social democratic era had clearly identifiable characteristics, and Alison Ravetz has delineated six main elements. First, they were supposed to be scientific, based in the method of 'survey then plan'; partly because of this, second, they were thought of as universal and comprehensive, giving expression to set rules about urban life; third, they were positivistic, aiming to change human behaviour by changing the environment. Fourth, they would be an ongoing process, continually reacting to dynamic change; fifth, they would segregate land use in an orderly manner. Sixth and last, architects and planners hoped to organise housing in small to medium-sized neighbourhoods that would foster social and community life. 5 The claim to be rational, scientific and modernising brought together at least five of Ravetz's six themes, as it was scientific, comprehensive, positivistic, dynamic and orderly.

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Section: 'Neighbourhood Unit' and Planned Region?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Social democratic space: the politics of building in ‘Golden Age’ Britain, c.1950–1973

O’Hara

2006

Arq

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“…In his paper published earlier in Planning Perspectives Bullock saw it in relation to a 'broad-based argument in favour of building flats, not just for special groups such as those being moved from slum clearance schemes, but as part of a general response to the problems of housing and reconstruction' [1]. This emphasis on the broad support for mixed development, and for the greater use of flats, encompassing planners and sociologists as well as architects, is surely correct.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Expensive land, subsidies and mixed development in London, 1943–56

Yelling¹

1994

Planning Perspectives

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The London Plans drawn up by Abercrombie and Forshaw during the Second World War were notable for their advocacy of mixed development through which they hoped to defuse the controversy over flats versus houses. Although giving support to the flat, it was also intended to re-introduce the house as a major element in the redevelopment of all but the west-central parts of London. After the war, however, with a few notable exceptions, the London Plan version of mixed development failed to become established in practice. This was due partly to the re-opening of divisions which the Plans had sought to close. But it was also due to the manner in which the debate linked to mainstream political and financial concerns, and this is the aspect on which the article concentrates. In particular, it examines the development of the subsidy structure and its links with planning concerns and local politics. The discussion relates to the significance of the land values issue to war-time planning, the failure to achieve a full solution, the 'return to reality' during and after the war, and the continuities between pre-war and post-war periods.

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“…The 10‐year construction was approved before bureaucratic reality encroached into the architectural dreams of this new mass utopia (Bullock ), and as a result, the estate is one of the examples of postwar mass social housing projects studied and celebrated for its attention to urbanism. Churchill Gardens was designed by modernist architects Powell and Moya, and the landscaping (Harwood ); the housing layout, which combines small and large units (Bullock ); and the social mix aimed at by having white‐collar and blue‐collar rents (Powell ) have all been studied as contributing factors in an attempt to realize social democracy through sociospatial organization. This allows for an examination of this neighborhood as a heterotopia in Foucault's terminology, a type of space into which society gazes to understand what an alternative arrangement of living might look like (Foucault ).…”

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confidence: 99%

District heating as heterotopia: Tracing the social contract through domestic energy infrastructure in Pimlico, London

Johnson

2016

Economic Anthropology

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The Pimlico District Heating Undertaking (PDHU) wasChristine pads across the waxed floorboards of her flat showing me to a comfy spot on her sofa. Her living room is bathed in sunlight, which floods through the windows and reflects off the modernist white of the walls, the brushed iron pipework, and the shining green leaves of her plants. "It's a gorgeous room," I say, and Christine agrees. "My flatmate calls it his studio," she responds, indicating the drafting table on the opposite side of the room. It transpires that her

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Plans for post‐war housing in the UK: The case for mixed development and the flat

Cited by 9 publications

References 1 publication

Social democratic space: the politics of building in ‘Golden Age’ Britain, c.1950–1973

Social democratic space: the politics of building in ‘Golden Age’ Britain, c.1950–1973

Expensive land, subsidies and mixed development in London, 1943–56

District heating as heterotopia: Tracing the social contract through domestic energy infrastructure in Pimlico, London

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