Newcastle University // Phoebe Mo // Dissertation by Phoebe Kai Wing Mo

Milton Keynes: Dormitory Town or Utopian dream of a City? -Has Milton Keynes become a lost vision of public urbanism?

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the degree of BA in Architecture 2015-2016 by Kai Wing Phoebe Mo.

ABSTRACT This dissertation has its purpose to set forth an exploration of whether Milton Keynes as a New Town has demonstrated the theory of new urbanism that exists within present society through its proposed Masterplan goals in forming a framework that provides the criterion for urbanity. Having a particular curiosity towards the granted norm of living in a New Town, I will put forward a proposal in exploring how being an inhabitant of the place has led me on to identify the variety of themes underlying the Freedom of Movement and Sociocultural aspects intended for Milton Keynes, and of which the repercussions inflicted upon individuals have conditioned our social character. By means of what narratives and tools around its architecture and planning have submerged such boundaries of the suburban realm and utopian society. I will seek to assess these implementations to a greater or lesser extent as to whether the New Town administers to a successful social experiment permitting to the public vision, or by contrary, evolved into a dormitory town. Thus one can strive for a new mind-set of the place, often derided for its homogenous middle-class community. Developed from models proposed by various urbanists who incorporated technological specialization in the admission of policies to create an integrated urban fabric.

CONTENTS: 2 Illustrations 5 Introduction of Milton Keynes 12 History of Milton Keynes 17 Freedom of Movement: Redway System Transport and Grid order 28 Architectural Monument, theCentre:MK 36 Social and Cultural Role within the New Town: Housing impact Social Identity 52 Conclusion 61 Bibliography

Fig. 1

ILLUSTRATIONS: Figure 1: Jacoby, H., Aerial Perspective of Milton Keynes, 2007 [online photograph], http://www. bdonline.co.uk/the-vision-for-milton-keynes/3092395.article , (accessed 17th January 2016). Figure 2: Reevell, A., Can garden cities and new towns work in the 21st century?, 2014 [online photograph], http://www.theguardian.com/housing-network/2014/mar/12/garden-cities-newtowns-housing-crisis , (accessed 8th January 2016). Figure 3: MKHA., Stony Stratford, 1898 [online photograph], http://www.mkheritage.co.uk/ wdahs/docs/ss-1898.html , (accessed 5th January 2016) Figure 4: Nolen, John., Original plan of first Garden City, Letchworth, 1904 [online photograph], http://library24.library.cornell.edu:8280/luna/servlet/detail/CORNELL~10~1~66351~111548# , (accessed 17th January 2016) Figure 5: Simon., Milton Keynes Redway System, 2013 [online photograph], http://www.cyclestreets.net/location/48004/ , (accessed 8th January 2016) Figure 6: Author, 2015. Figure 7: Author, 2015. Figure 8: MK Council., CMK Aerial Perspective, 2014 [online photograph], http://cmktowncouncil.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/CMK-Aerial-View-1500x630.jpg (accessed 17th January 2016) Figure 9 (a): Author, 2015. Figure 9 (b): Author, 2015. Figure 10 (a): Author, 2015. Figure 10 (b): Author, 2015. Figure 11 (a): Author, 2015. Figure 11 (b): Author, 2015. 2

Figure 12: Aalam, I., Coffee Hall Plan, 2009 [online photograph], https://iqbalaalam.wordpress. com/2009/08/22/early-grids-of-milton-keynes-coffee-hall/ , (accessed 17th January 2016) Figure 13 (a): Author, 2015. Figure 13 (b): Author, 2015. Figure 13 (c): Author, 2015. Figure 14: Author, 2015. Figure 15: Author, 2015. Figure 16: Author, 2015.

Fig. 2: Americanized model of land planning displaying low density avenues lined by trees.

Introduction of Milton Keynes

Often coined the term ‘the little Los Angeles in North Buckinghamshire’ Milton Keynes was carefully planned and controlled with over twenty million trees and 4,500 acres of green space.1 It drew upon native ideas, not least that of the garden city. It sought to incorporate, rather than subsume, the existing communities in its corner of North Buckinghamshire.2 The whole project was initially designed and planned by the Milton Keynes Development Corporation, led by Lord Campbell until 1992 when the Corporation ceased. Campbell appointed Llewellyn Davies as principal planner and Derek Walker as Chief architect, who also designed the Central Milton Keynes building. The creation of the New Town had various purposes which drew upon master plan principles. The goals stated were: opportunity and freedom of choice, balance and variety, easy movement and access, creation of an attractive city, public awareness and participation and efficient use of resources. The corporation also took the view that the planning of the new city must be related to clear and explicit social goals. The plan should describe and define the character of life which is the new city’s aim.3 This developed into a flexible framework that gave considerable latitude in attempting to change a diagram into a utopian metropolis.4 So forth, Milton Keynes became one of the third generation ‘satellite towns’ close enough to London to serve as an overspill area but also sufficiently remote to avoid becoming a dormitory town.5 The reality of Milton Keynes is sometimes a divided city; its greatest advantage also seen as a weakness.6 One of the prime examples involved the land planning of Milton Keynes. This constituted to a pioneering master plan which followed a utopian vision on a large scale; the grid square plan of dividing the urban area into units of square kilometre roads were essential to the vision of the planner, Llewellyn Davies, who felt that in the future people would want to enjoy a wealthier lifestyle based upon motorised transport and telecommunications.7

Consequently, the rest of the city was designed according to the rigid grid system. Much of the landscaping was placed alongside the roads and inserted into grid squares in the form of small or large parks in order to create pleasant walking environments which would later complement the Redway system, giving inhabitants freedom to move over the entire city.8 Another prominent aspect of the vision involved the construction of the city centre building; having won several design and construction awards shortly after it was built, its heavy modernist style was influenced by architect Mies Van der Rohe with its rigour, consistency and functionality. The success of the design lay in the universality of its interior spaces in order to adapt to constant change within the retail environment while retaining its architectural integrity. Designed under the leadership of Derek Walker and Stuart Mosscrop, its large size and unrelenting functionality could be viewed as a successful experiment in building design as it was visited by over 30 million people per year, developing into a powerful economic generator for the New town.9 Henceforth, this led to Grade II listing of the building in July 2010, which caused a divided reaction between its owners and campaigners.10 Although unanticipated to be the dominant hub of the city, the buildingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s main function was mostly reserved for retail.11 However research by EDAW consultants* showed that most people wanted the shopping centre to be more than a place to shop.12 In order to tackle this new social challenge, a renewed interest institaged a change to the mono-functioning structure into a mixed-use communal space envisaging a polycentric order. Thus the building developed into a space for residents near and far, becoming the core for conditioning the nature of social urban life.

* Urban Design Consultants in charge of the masterplan of Milton Keynes.

In light of the radical plan for the New Town, the project attracted much international attention, early phases of the city included residential schemes in Beanhill, Netherfield and Coffee Hall, designed by celebrated architects including Sir Richard MacCormac, Lord Norman Foster and Ralph Erskine. Though strongly committed to the sleek â&#x20AC;&#x153;Miesianâ&#x20AC;? minimalism inspired by Mies van der Rohe, the architects themselves input their own style to the developments, however this adjustment perhaps contributed to the failure of a few schemes including Beanhill and Coffee Hall. The characterless places were poorly constructed and caused various social problems from an early stage, the designerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s intention of providing a model for a community is somewhat flawed, and instead it has instigated a cold, repetitive order without real unity. As the levels of home-based consumption increases, the feeling of being part of a community through residential means therefore inflicts a subsequent influence on how the inhabitants perceive the New Town. Thereupon, one should strive for a framework suggested by architect, Paolo Soleri that can combine layers of housing hierarchies toward a condition that is more intense, richer and less segregated.13 Establishing a social identity for the inhabitants is perhaps one of the most challenging goals incorporated within the masterplan. The attraction of Milton Keynes must stem from the quality of life enjoyed by individuals in the new city as well as from its physical appearance, the two interact upon one another.14 The provision of institutions and facilities provided the framework for which cultural and spatial symbols could be formed. This was a crucial tool in paving a sense of belonging for local residents and social cohesion. Evaluating upon these points, the constantly evolving complexity of urban conditions should be taken into consideration, due to the existing social structures which have led to oppression because of group differences within Milton Keynes. This is since a consequence of adapting to the vision of the public realm. In the process of creating this utopian society, Milton Keynes has become the hotbed of competing ideas and ideals of how we would construct the future way of living. In this thesis I will seek to analyse the way in which Milton Keynes has utilised the masterplan goals to develop into a place that displays the nature of both social and urban change in the process of becoming a utopian society in the vision of public urbanism.

Footnotes:

Ellis Woodman, ‘Why Milton Keynes Is a Family Favourite’ The Telegraph (6 August 2007) <http://www. telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/3641801/Why-Milton-Keynes-is-a-family-favourite.html> accessed 7 January 2016. 1

Mark Clapson, A Social History of Milton Keynes: Middle England / Edge City (Peter Catterall ed., Frank Cass Publishers 2004). 2

Milton Keynes Development Corporation and others, The Plan for Milton Keynes (Milton Keynes Development 1970). 3

Victoria JK JK Lamburn and Derek Walker, Impression Milton Keynes (VL Publishing 2011),p9.

Pascaline Gaborit, European New Towns: Image, Identities, Future Perspectives (European Interuniversity Press 2010), p28. 5

Andrew Pakes, ‘Labour’s New Towns: Lessons from Milton Keynes’ (Fabian Society, 10 January 2014) <http://www.fabians.org.uk/labours-new-towns-lessons-from-milton-keynes/> accessed 18 October 2015. 6

Mark Clapson, A Social History of Milton Keynes: Middle England / Edge City (Peter Catterall ed., Frank Cass Publishers 2004), p2. 7

Derek HT Walker, Steen Eiler Rosmussen> and Walker Derek, The Architecture and Planning of Milton Keynes (Architectural Press 1981), p6. 8

Elain Harwood, ‘Revisiting the Shopping Building, Milton Keynes’ (November 2010) <http://www.bdonline. co.uk/revisiting-the-shopping-building-milton-keynes/5008997.article> accessed 7 January 2016. Historic England, ‘SHOPPING BUILDING - 1393882’ (2015) <https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/ list-entry/1393882> accessed 7 January 2016. 10

Pascaline Gaborit, European New Towns: Image, Identities, Future Perspectives (European Interuniversity Press 2010), p110. 11

Robert Cook and Andrew Cook, More of Milton Keynes: Building on the Vision (1st edn, Sutton Publishing 2004), p6. 12

Paolo Soleri and John Strohmeier, The Urban Ideal: Conversations with Paolo Soleri (Berkeley Hills Books,US 2001), p36. 13

Paolo Soleri and John Strohmeier, The Urban Ideal: Conversations with Paolo Soleri (Berkeley Hills Books,US 2001), p242. 14

Victoria JK JK Lamburn and Derek Walker, Impression Milton Keynes (VL Publishing 2011), p19.

Fig. 3: Earliest existing villages later integrated into Milton Keynes: One can see the compact row housing divided by a single linear road.

Fig. 4: The vision for the first Garden city in Letchworth, settlements are arranged around a concentric centre.

History of Milton Keynes

With the 18 new communities involved in the nature of the plan, their destinies would be interwoven with the New Town. Milton Keynes originated as a village among meadows with the Ouzel River, fed by small brooks and streams, slowly draining the land. Governed by the seasons and rigid social hierarchy, there was quiet suffering from poverty and limited health care available. After the two world wars, new industries and opportunities raised new hopes for common people.16 Instigated to relive chronic housing shortages after the war, it was also one planning strategy targeting the city sprawl.17 Milton Keynes provided a solution to the excessive concentration in the metropolis by relieving the pressure from the capital. In the late 1800s, urban planner Sir Ebenezer Howard brought to attention the problem of the unhealthy concentration of settlements in the Victorian industrial cities such as London, the subsequent creation of his model of garden cities were formed not long after.18 However, American urbanist Melvin Webber later suggested that the old idea of the garden city as a concentric cluster was out of date; places that enabled people to travel around them readily should be the new modernist dream.19 The Corporation was very much influenced by Webber’s ideas and thus used his principles as a guideline throughout the project of the New Town. Nonetheless, Walker still sought to retain a few of the fundamental principles of a garden city, except in the city centre, where there were to be more emphasis on trees and greenery than on solid high density buildings.20 Walker envisaged Milton Keynes as an urban paradise whereby it would be “Greener than the landscape around it.”21 There were to be no buildings taller than 3 storeys, except in theCentre:MK where up to 6 storeys might be acceptable.22 Gradually this urban ideal cultivated into an environment which combined the strong forces of traditional English landscapes with the burgeoning consumer world of the 1970s.23 He was especially inspired by the urbanist notions of producing a balanced surrounding through “community without propinquity”24 suggested by Melvin Webber, who believed that the urban realm was no longer a matter of territory but of heterogeneous groups of people communicating through space.25 12

Walker took existing American cities as an urban model for the vision of Milton Keynes. The post-war economies in Los Angeles realised that the importance of manufacturing services had become less desirable, people and employment were dispersing away from the town and city centres. As a consequence, towns were continuing to expand but their spatial spread did not unravel or disintegrate social and economic relationships; these were held together by the car and by instant communications.26 Strongly influenced by these principles, Walker delivered the utopian dream which fully embraced the urbanist cultures and architecture to produce an ambitious and affluent New Town.

Footnotes:

Robert Cook and Andrew Cook, More of Milton Keynes: Building on the Vision (1st edn, Sutton Publishing 2004), p7. 16

Victoria JK JK Lamburn and Derek Walker, Impression Milton Keynes (VL Publishing 2011), p18.

Pascaline Gaborit, European New Towns: Image, Identities, Future Perspectives (European Interuniversity Press 2010), p27. 18

Webber, Melvin M (1963). Order and Diversity: Community without Propinquity. in Wirigo, L (ed.) (1963). Cities and Space. Johns Hopkins University Press. 19

Jeff Bishop, Milton Keynes - the Best of Both Worlds? Public and Professional Views of a New City (School for Advanced Urban Studies, University of Bristol 1986), p11. 20

Sam Jacob, ‘Derek Walker Obituary’ The Guardian (23 May 2015) <http://www.theguardian.com/uknews/2015/may/22/derek-walker> accessed 7 January 2016. 21

‘The Planning of Milton Keynes’ (MKDC) <http://www.rudi.net/files/34C883261E9D499EA3241201F5A612E7. pdf> accessed 7 January 2016, p8. 22

Sam Jacob, ‘Derek Walker Obituary’ The Guardian (23 May 2015) <http://www.theguardian.com/uknews/2015/may/22/derek-walker> accessed 7 January 2016. 23

‘Melvin Webber, Milton Keynes and Non-Place Urban Realm’ (Scribd 2011) <http://www.scribd.com/ doc/51895752/Melvin-Webber-Milton-Keynes-and-non-place-urban-realm> accessed 21 October 2015. 24

Williams R.J., (2004) The Anxious City: British Urbanism in the late 20th century, Routledge.

Mark Clapson, A Social History of Milton Keynes: Middle England / Edge City (Peter Catterall ed., Frank Cass Publishers 2004), p40. 26

Fig. 5: Milton Keynes Redway system showing motorist priority at side roads

Fig. 6: Elevated cycle route providing a safer vein of movement through the New Town. 16

Freedom of Movement: Redway System

“The modernist city was organized on the basis of the oppositional separation of drivers and pedestrians to facilitate the fluid movement of the automobile.” 27

Learning from the past of new towns and proceeding the ideals of American urban infrastructure, the aim was to keep the residential and working areas separate with open and accessible links for public transport to travel between the two places. “The road grid would facilitate mobility and choice: enabling people to move freely across the city.”28 The provision of public transport was emphasised and played a large part in providing the opportunity for mobility and easy access throughout the place. This conception of mobile and increasingly flexible living patterns would find its physical expression in the gridiron of roads which would be spread over the designated area of North Bucks.29 However the issue of dependency on this mode of transport started to fail as the grid slowly came to facilitate the private motorised transport. “Distances between places of residence, schools, retail areas and leisure centres made it impossible for inhabitants to rely solely on public transportation.”30 Even residents who work in the town tend to use their car because New Towns often sprawled across a wide territory, yet their public transportation services are insufficient. This transport assumption came to realisation of the corporation when they stated in the 1970s, advising residents, “if you haven’t got a car, you might have to think about buying one.”31 Twenty years later, access to a car was still far from universal.32 Thus, this problem counteracted the goal to achieve ‘freedom of movement’ as it meant that only a certain group of individuals could afford a car.

As a town that was created with an intention of improving conditions for the urban poor, one would question the contribution to which it has caused further social exclusion of inhabitants where certain residential areas that are already struggling to live by on the minimum wage. Consequently the pattern of use was clear that the car was still the main node of travel, despite alongside an existing comprehensive network of cycle paths called the Redway. This system was designed for cyclists generating a secondary vein of movement within the New Town. The opportunity has been taken to show for the first time on a citywide scale how travel for pedestrians and cyclists can be made convenient, safe and pleasant. The Redway is unique in many ways, but probably its most important feature is its complete separation from the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s main roads with the high level of safety that it brings.33 Taking into account that cycling within UK is not particularly high with only 3%, cycling at least five times a week yet this opportunity of alternative travel still remains at a considerably low level within Milton Keynes.34 â&#x20AC;&#x153;Milton Keynes has fantastic cycle paths, of a similar standard to the Netherlands, and yet nobody cycles thereâ&#x20AC;? This is suggestive that there is little correlation between the provision of cycle routes and the amount of cyclists.35 After studying the Redway map, many of the cycle routes either ran parallel or elevated from the high speed dual carriageways which in many instances allowed for road users to have greater priority over the Redway user. In such a way, one questions the safety and planning processes of when the design of the Redway was implemented, which contrasted to the design approach that occurred in the Netherlands to separate motor traffic from cyclists, thus making it the easiest mode of transport to use in towns and cities by prioritising cycle traffic and improving cyclist safety.

Whether there was a real intention to encourage the level of cycling within Milton Keynes, may just reflect an acknowledgement to the goal of an opportunity for a greater freedom of movement within the network of roads and fulfil the condition for sustainable living. Perhaps it is just an infrastructural intervention designed to remove cyclists from the grid roads in order to accommodate the needs and desires of motorists. The extent of the failure of this design is echoed in a strong statement discussed on the Cycling embassy of Britain that “Redways are often used as an argument against implementing any form of separate cycle infrastructure in other parts of the UK.” Bringing forward the case that the Redway network is seen as a benefit to the motorists “permitting higher speeds and less-attentive driving, whilst leaving cyclists with a network of poorly signed, surfaced and maintained narrow two-way lanes.”36 Another consequent problem is the availability of cycle parking throughout the city, commuters want to feel as secure parking bicycles as they do with cars. The accessibility of the routes throughout must facilitate the provision of administering this facility in order to allow for a more popular rise in the level of cycling, yet this issue is still an ongoing problem around the New Town. While primarily designed for cyclists, the Redway can be viewed as a much more successful outcome through the use of alternative travel by foot as this gradually becomes a more popular route of commute. The relatively low density housing tend to create a more integrated environment for the travellers on the Redway with tree-lined surroundings that create slight weather-protection and pleasant views for the users separating the noise from the road. Irrespective of the footpaths that circulate fully and freely around the whole city.37 I doubt the quality of environments of these routes, as they are often considered as ‘nogo’ areas due to its increasing rate of crime.

The goal of providing a greater quality of life within the New Town schemes must be recognized; to achieve this one must consider the health and well-being of the inhabitants, the provision of Redways bring about attractive streetscapes, economic use of land and healthy lifestyles. The encouragement of cycling should thus be revised in order to fully benefit from the economic returns of the intended qualities of a distinct system encompassed in an urban society. Overall, the attempt to generate a connected city through this new mechanism has been largely ineffective. However, one could argue that this operation is just one of the many repercussions from experimentation within Milton Keynes as a New Town.

Footnotes:

Mario Gandelsonas, ‘“ Slow Infrastructure ”’ (2008) <https://cauiprinceton.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/81-09-slow-infrastructure-2.pdf> accessed 8 January 2016. 27

Mark Clapson, A Social History of Milton Keynes: Middle England / Edge City (Peter Catterall Catterall ed, Frank Cass Publishers 2004), p2. 28

Mark Clapson, A Social History of Milton Keynes: Middle England / Edge City (Peter Catterall Catterall ed, Frank Cass Publishers 2004), p43. 29

Pascaline Gaborit, European New Towns: Image, Identities, Future Perspectives (European Interuniversity Press 2010), p85. 30

‘Milton Keynes New City — the Road to Success’ (1975) 12 International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences & Geomechanics Abstracts A44. 31

Potter, S. (1976) Transport and New Towns Volume 2: The transport assumptions underlying the design of Britain’s new towns, 1946-76, MiltonKeynes: Open University New Towns Study Unit, pp148-156. 32

Derek HT Walker, Steen Eiler Rosmussen> and Walker Derek, The Architecture and Planning of Milton Keynes (Architectural Press 1981), p35. 33

Department for Transport, ‘Walking and Cycling Statistics’ (23 June 2015) <https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/walking-and-cycling-statistics> accessed 8 January 2016. 34

Aseasyasriding, ‘They Built It, and They Didn’t Come - the Lesson of Milton Keynes’ (26 April 2012) <https://aseasyasridingabike.wordpress.com/2012/04/26/they-built-it-and-they-didnt-come-the-lesson-ofmilton-keynes/> accessed 8 January 2016. 35

‘The Milton Keynes Cycle Network Is More Dangerous than the Road Network’ (2014) <http://www. cycling-embassy.org.uk/wiki/milton-keynes-cycle-network-more-dangerous-road-network> accessed 8 January 2016. 36

Jeff Bishop, Milton Keynes - the Best of Both Worlds? Public and Professional Views of a New City (School

for Advanced Urban Studies, University of Bristol 1986), pp6-16.

Fig. 7: Bus stop located adjacent to road, inhabitants are required to walk outside their neighbourhood in order to travel on public transport.

Fig. 8: â&#x20AC;&#x153;The overall low density planning was unable to achieve any identity with the neighbourhood.â&#x20AC;?38 22

Freedom of Movement: Transport and Grid Order

“A grid system had the advantage first of cost; a hierarchical system would be two and a half times as much per head of the population.”39

As expressed in the Nature of the plan by the MKDC, part of the goals for the New Town ensured easy and accessible movement in each area, “Existing towns and cities always have much to offer which a new town cannot provide, but generally they cannot offer full freedom of movement.”40 Among examples of this, are the earlier discussed creation of the Redway system as a means for cyclists and travel by foot. Aside from these modes of travel, the grid system is also intended for the much favoured, car-culture and proposals for a public transport system that would interconnect all the residential areas so social contact between all parts of the city will be easy.41 Developed from the original vision of a city based around a mono-rail, The Corporation deplored its limited conception of movement, and instead decided that a low density road-grid would facilitate motorised traffic and movement across the future New Town.42 To accommodate for this, the idea to disperse the activity centres across the city so that much of what people wanted would be located within convenient distances at many small nodal points would therefore eliminate the problem of congestion around the centre.43 In some respects, this scheme has failed to solve the problem of traffic, due to the main train station building which follows on from a linear stretch of road and avenues consisting of a cluster of prominent offices and highly desirable residential areas. In turn, this causes added congestion as commuters and inhabitants chaotically flow in from various directions trying to reach their common destinations. Despite the intention for through traffic, the pattern of roads, building and public transport cannot meet the accelerating needs of the present day without accepting the inevitable issue of congestion where there is an extensive facilitation for cars. 23

Despite being praised for actualizing the ‘ideal’ transport planning system in a report written by Colin Buchanan, one would think that Milton Keynes has largely acquired an advantage in terms of providing public transportation.44 Nevertheless, it still remains an issue, with regular complaints of unreliability and inconsistent bus services. Many still find that not owning a car causes an issue when commuting around the city. Perhaps the overriding factor is profit motives within bus companies which signify that better services tend to travel to more populated cities, this knock-on effect means smaller towns and rural areas are at a disadvantage.45 Although the city is pioneering pilots of electric cars and buses, one of the things that make the city sustainable is its willingness to change and adapt.46 However, the problem posed is that towards the end of a century, with the size of Milton Keynes where the average journey to work by car will take fifteen minutes, demand for public transport will be ultimately be limited.47 Aside from the obvious purposes identified, one must also explore other underlying advantages that the road grid has to offer. A piece of urbanity set in an undulating countryside, a further component for the New Town is the visual contrast with its setting.48 The master plan proposed an overall low density mixed development in space for generous landscaping.49 This gives the inhabitants an experience so that “…main roads will be designed to afford a sequence of views changing from building to landscape, through open space to urban views and curving along the edges of lakes and past busy industrial complexes and shopping centres.”50 This enables the New Town to speak for itself, through the plans and architecture of direct experience. The grid thus reveals an aspiration for movement and for meaningful connection with the social, cultural and economic life of the city.51

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Milton Keynes has incorporated both old villages and river routes in its design, which has helped the New Town to forge identity from tangible elements.â&#x20AC;?52 A common concern which existed throughout construction of New Towns was establishing its own cultural identity. The products of traditional cities have had a historical refinement of craftsmanship and artistry, not available to urban places.53 In spite of this, it should be appreciated that for the first time in many years, as much energy and attention is being spent on the design of streets, boulevards and the spaces between buildings, as opposed to the architecture. Subsequently, this shows that image and character is not just about technical construction, but is also highly influenced through representations and visions. This raises the question whether city planners are really more successful than the projectors. Is an emphasis on organic development necessary to the foundations of a thriving identity and social character? Does technological intervention characterise a dehumanising experience in the formation of cultures or does it provide access to forming these communities and connections? Has the dominant system of privatised transport contributed to the impression of a dormitory town through a robotised experience?

Footnotes:

Jeff Bishop, Milton Keynes - the Best of Both Worlds? Public and Professional Views of a New City (School for Advanced Urban Studies, University of Bristol 1986), p6. 38

Derek HT Walker, Steen Eiler Rosmussen> and Walker Derek, The Architecture and Planning of Milton Keynes (Architectural Press 1981), p30. 39

Andrew Blowers, Chris Hamnett and Philip Sarre (eds), The Future of Cities (Routledge 2006), p239

Milton Keynes Development Corporation and others, The Plan for Milton Keynes (Milton Keynes Development 1970), p55. 41

Mark Clapson, A Social History of Milton Keynes: Middle England / Edge City (Peter Catterall Catterall ed, Frank Cass Publishers 2004), p34. 42

Mark Clapson, A Social History of Milton Keynes: Middle England / Edge City (Peter Catterall Catterall ed, Frank Cass Publishers 2004), p50. 43

Owen Hatherley, ‘Public Transport Needs a Hero City’ The Guardian (31 December 2015) <http://www. theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/sep/14/road-transport-transport> accessed 8 January 2016. 44

The Committee Office and House of Commons, ‘House of Commons - Transport Committee - Written Evidence’ (18 January 2011) <http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201012/cmselect/ cmtran/750/750vw31.htm> accessed 8 January 2016. 45

Milton Keynes Development Corporation and others, The Plan for Milton Keynes (Milton Keynes Development 1970), p55. 47

Derek HT Walker, Steen Eiler Rosmussen> and Walker Derek, The Architecture and Planning of Milton Keynes (Architectural Press 1981), p10. 48

Derek HT Walker, Steen Eiler Rosmussen> and Walker Derek, The Architecture and Planning of Milton Keynes (Architectural Press 1981), p19. 49

Andrew Blowers, Chris Hamnett and Philip Sarre (eds), The Future of Cities (Routledge 2006), p242.

Mark Clapson, A Social History of Milton Keynes: Middle England / Edge City (Peter Catterall Catterall ed, Frank Cass Publishers 2004), p177. 51

Pascaline Gaborit, European New Towns: Image, Identities, Future Perspectives (European Interuniversity Press 2010), p95. 52

Derek HT Walker, Steen Eiler Rosmussen> and Walker Derek, The Architecture and Planning of Milton Keynes (Architectural Press 1981), p14. 53

Derek HT Walker, Steen Eiler Rosmussen> and Walker Derek, The Architecture and Planning of Milton Keynes (Architectural Press 1981), p17. 54

Derek HT Walker, Steen Eiler Rosmussen> and Walker Derek, The Architecture and Planning of Milton Keynes (Architectural Press 1981), p117. 55

Architectural Monument, Centre:MK

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Central Milton Keynes is a glitzy affair, all marble and glass, and light and spacious.â&#x20AC;?56

Town centres should represent the city in such a way as to provide an image and identity to the place; generating a connection with its inhabitants through an association by the character of its central area.57 They should be creative places for living economic activity and planning. Built with the idea to become polycentric cities, New Towns often lacked a real town centre.58 This problem arose through the development of car centred activities, limited access to more traditional centres were not fit for car traffic and parking spaces were lacking. This resulted in the dissolution of the central city as an economic, social and symbolic locus, as numerous economic activities developed to become communication and transportation hubs instead.59 Thus, this emphasised the importance for the need for a communal space in which people could connect and interact amongst a large social mix of public and private areas in order to fight against the urban sprawl from the metropolis. In Milton Keynes, the city centre is planned to present the richness and variety offered by existing cities with a more efficient system to minimise the traffic and congestion often caused when travelling. The design principle of the area plan for the centre provides a circulation system of service and access routes within which developments of different kinds and densities can take place. The circulation system is made up of three interlocking and complementary networks which provide levels of accessibility for people, wheeled traffic, goods and services to all parts of the building.60 Deliveries are also made from the roof, which is reached by a single road, Secklow Gate, over the development.61

In light of the proposed spatial planning, I start to gather a sense of a rather mono schematic approach associated with a factory-like network, with its highest priority being the functionality. The resultant low density building strongly takes into account the overall planning of the city as to not allow for too much disturbance within its surrounding neighbourhoods. Unlike any other shopping centre of its time, the building provides the shopping facilities on a single storey where the entrance is situated at ground level as intended to serve as a ‘high street’ for the motorised city, it stands adjacent to the car park and is hemmed in by arterial and access roads with stores and service areas for the shops in the above storey.62 The vast use of glass allows for maximum natural light to flood into the shopping spaces, accompanied by the minimal steel structure which frames the building to delicately create an illusion of being outside. Mies’ rational style of ‘skin and bones’ architecture can be seen in the long cuboid shape as it runs 650m by 12m in height seamlessly along the grid system; a scale unprecedented in Britain, becoming the largest covered arcade then built.63 Another noticeable feature lies in the behaviour of the materials, all of which are utilised and displayed in its most organic form; the fully exposed framework owes to its structural honesty, an underlying principle of Mies’ work to show the functionality rather than an apparent illusion of elaborate decorative elements that was common in other shopping centres around the country. Perhaps the neutral technological framework plays a large part in its symbolism as a regional facility to accommodate people of all classes and social mixes to congregate. For instance, the prominent writer David Aaronovitch described the building as “…not simply a site of consumption, but a place to meet people. One could be both a sociable person, and a selective, evaluating, self-empowering consumer.”64

Fig. 9 (a)

Fig. 9 (b): As I approach the main entrance, it conveys an awe of wonder as it stands as one of the first to display this exceptional form of modernist design. 30

The public squares and the arcades are the most important elements in design terms, having a clear and precise Miesian form which is unique for a shopping building. However in the eyes of some architectural critics, such diversity, allied to newness, did not make for a recognisably ‘central’ city centre, according to Pevsner “the city centre looked like and functioned as ‘an out-of-town’ shopping centre and business-park, unconventionally placed at the city’s hub.”65 Nonetheless, one must consider that at this juncture of time, new residential and commercial architecture was still being constructed, whilst simultaneously undergoing new governance, the decision of designing at such a large scale and unrelenting functionality may somewhat be viewed as a successful experiment as it became the economic generator of the New Town, with Milton Keynes becoming the fastest-growing economy outside London during 1997 to 2011.66 At the pinnacle of an era of emerging urban styles, divided opinion amongst many is unsurprising especially following the Grade II listing in July 2010 after a long campaign by local pressure groups and the Twentieth Century Society.67 Unexpectedly, the importance to preserve the architectural integrity of the building may seem a rather trivial decision due to its main function being only to generate economic benefits from consumers, instead has become somewhat an architectural monument. The traditional idea that shopping malls of the 70s were not supposed to have ‘architecture’ displayed the pre-war realm of thought, which the designers sought to break by introducing the style of minimalism that tapped into a more optimistic idea of architecture.68

Fig. 10 (a)

Fig. 10 (b): Midsummer Boulevard; an extension to theCentre:mk. An inept design of wavy roofs contrasting the original vision of the traditional modernist style. 32

It follows that Milton Keynes is a place capable of eschewing both the traditional urban form and the sixties New Town ideals. These contrasting principles are perhaps overlaid by its mutual need for functionality, considerate of its wider context; the building follows the schema for the city in terms of an ordered service system, simultaneously conveying a universal space concept and style of linearity which allowed for the highest possible degree of freedom for adapting to the perfectly organic framework. To some extent the shopping building has demonstrated a new opportunity for social and cultural benefits within a growing urban environment as a symbolism of a fundamentally dynamic hub, it allows for a diverse mix of inhabitants to interact communally; this is important for a New Town in order to establish a form of identity and practice amongst other cities in the UK. Though one raises the question whether the set of social goals developed for the inhabitants is the solution to the problems of previous town centres, therefore making Milton Keynes a non-dormitory town, as it continues to strive to achieve an ideal public setting.

Footnotes:

Mark Clapson, A Social History of Milton Keynes: Middle England / Edge City (Peter Catterall Catterall ed, Frank Cass Publishers 2004), p3. 56

Pascaline Gaborit, European New Towns: Image, Identities, Future Perspectives (European Interuniversity Press 2010), p92. 57

Ibid., p. 2.

Ibid., p. 108.

Derek HT Walker, Steen Eiler Rosmussen> and Walker Derek, The Architecture and Planning of Milton Keynes (Architectural Press 1981), p55. 60

Historic England, ‘SHOPPING BUILDING - 1393882’ (2015) <https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/ list-entry/1393882> accessed 7 January 2016. 62

Ibid.

Ibid. 56, p. 11.

Ibid. 56, p. 56.

‘Paradise Lost’ (The Economist, 3 August 2013) <http://www.economist.com/news/britain/21582559-britains-new-towns-illustrate-value-cheap-land-and-good-infrastructure-paradise-lost> accessed 8 January 2016. 66

Ibid., 62.

Maev Kennedy, ‘Milton Keynes Shopping Centre Becomes Grade II Listed’ The Guardian (20 May 2014) <http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2010/jul/16/milton-keynes-shopping-centre-grade-listed> accessed 7 January 2016. 68

Social and Cultural Role within the New Town: Housing Impact “Milton Keynes resembled a concentration camp because people lived away from their work in quiet residential areas. Milton Keynes was a corpse when compared to the ‘true’ city.”69 As part of the creation of the New Town, one key focus was the housing that was forecast to be built over the years. In the ‘The Nature of the Plan’ issued by MKDC they stated that, “…dwellings should be provided across a wide range of sizes, types and character, and that densities of housing areas should allow for considerable variation.”70 This would allow opportunities for social mixing and increased integration within each neighbourhood. However, it gradually became apparent that certain grid-squares gained a reputation for being undesirable, and people who could afford it moved on to more attractive grid squares at the first opportunity.71 Stemming from the original population of people that first inhabited each area, the proposal was intended that “Each new town neighbourhood would contain around 10,000 people in relatively low-density housing and sharing a local centre with shops, churches and schools .”72 The provision of these facilities would provide institutions that promoted reproduction of and respect for group differences without oppression over the diverse range of social classes formed within the New Town.73 This would generate a mono-class system for the inhabitants throughout whereby each ‘village’ would be designed and planned almost identically to each other. So forth, dwellings were provided across a wide range of sizes, types and character. Additionally, a variety of financial arrangements were offered to families to either own or rent their homes.74

Milton Keynes’ housing had become more populist, there was a marked return to the suburban styles of semi-detached and detached housing for sale. Many of the earliest housing schemes were designed by noticeable architects. Milton Keynes gained some of the more radical and ‘different’ experimental housing built in England during the latter 20th century.75 They also became prime examples as it led the New Town by its chin into a new style of rationalism which gave way to the reassertion of traditional housing in the 70s.76 However, amongst these consisted of a few misinterpretations that seemed to fail as practical dwellings, one of which included the housing project by Norman Foster in Beanhill. The monotonous rows of construction present a strict system of assembled row housing, the improved pitched roofing gives a somewhat more traditional quality to the residential area; this sense of materiality displays a slightly more welcoming response to the estate. Although far from the consistent city style of Mies’ minimalism, this early example of housing within the New Town is perhaps one of which conveys less functionalism and more character. Much to its American aspirations, the development resulted in rain penetration, condensation and poor heat insulation, which led to the replacement of pitched roofing. Due to a shortage of building materials after the war during construction, the houses were cheaply clad in black corrugated metal and white grated metal screens in the front garden to give the area a trailer park finish.77 Following these consequences, this led to a number of social problems arising because of the unsatisfactory finish which led to the failure to function as a residential means. Similar problems also arose along with the surrounding neighbourhoods, Coffee Hall and Netherfield.

Fig. 11 (a)

Fig. 11 (b): Every dwelling seems to enjoy similar conditions of internal and external environments; yet one can only capture a glimpse of character through the personalisation of their front porches. 38

A study shown by Social Atlas has revealed that between 2010 and 2012 they were among the top 4 worst places to live in Milton Keynes.78 However, one should consider that this result is based largely on numerical data alone, taking into account the number of dwellings claiming housing and council tax benefits and also percentage of pupils receiving free school meals within the estate.79 Whether this analysis is a valid indicator for representing an acceptable condition of living; perhaps the fundamental conclusion should lie largely with the occupant. Be that as it may, from the beginning, its earliest concerns already imposed an enduring effect on its social status decades after, I believe that the architectural scheme was doomed from the start. Coffee Hall also became another talking point of controversial housing, Sir Richard MacCormac was commissioned to design a number of neo-vernacular housing schemes, one which included the Chapter House project of single-person flats. With greater consideration to the surrounding environment, MacCormac was more sensitive to the social needs and hierarchy of spaces, tailoring closely his architecture for the inhabitants; his designs consisted of a more practical scheme of pitched roofs, timber and brick features.80 MacCormac utilised the tool of geometry in terms of providing a solution to the housing problems, with the Chapter house scheme designed on a geometric basis, the courtyard system was used as a means of distinction between spaces to allow for different activities to take place in situations which have their own identity, and through use can develop into a community.81

Fig. 12: Coffee Hall housing, clustered arrangement of flat combined with the brick work convey a more intimate sense of home.

It is strange that such seemingly meaningful architecture is part of an area which is deemed socially derelict, the carefulness of design was the pinnacle of creating an urban ideal to the vision of the public. Yet in its time, it appears that the UK’s first active solar house built in Bradwell Common, 1972 would be the mark of the public’s perception of Milton Keynes presenting the new tradition in the urban society. However, this issue existed throughout Europe where “the newest neighbourhoods are always the most beautiful, while the original neighbourhoods lose their attractive qualities. This image issue is one of the major challenges that New towns are currently facing.”82 The Corporation’s aim to provide a balance and variety to the housing within MK is to some extent successful. Using the town centre as the main core to the city, most residential squares were no more than fifteen minutes of commuting. This can be recognised as I travelled towards the shopping building located at the heart of town; the diversity of housing offered within the vicinity shows a steady balance suitable for various income groups. Nevertheless, their persistence of interweaving the fabric of residential areas to the rest of the city may have contributed to the exclusion and zoning experienced by inhabitants, through the established areas that reflected a distinctive disparity of unkempt housing and shabby, vandalised parts of the poorer grid squares near the centre.83

Perhaps the failures of certain anticipated housing schemes fell too deep into the system of using American ideas for experimentation. Despite a number of established contemporaries, Milton Keynes offered them a tabula rasa on which to test out new ideas.84 “New Towns that embodied modernity in architecture of the 70s was not appreciated much, as they gave the impression of soulless residential districts without real unity.”85 While this can be understood through the view of the desperate speed at which housing was demanded after the war, it limited the scope for detailed care and planning for well-designed buildings. So forth, the failure of Beanhill and Coffee Hall does not solely lie in the deterioration of material construction; instead the degree of which grouping may have resulted in its categorization of deeming it a ‘bad’ place to live supposes the idea that physical forms by themselves do not fulfil social objectives; you cannot get a village by pushing a few houses together or a community by isolating a critical number of dwellings.86

Fig. 13 (a)

Fig. 13 (b)

Fig. 13 (c): The graffiti has become an eyesore for the community of Coffee Hall, but does this show the only sight of identity within a village?

Footnotes:

Mark Clapson, A Social History of Milton Keynes: Middle England / Edge City (Peter Catterall Catterall ed, Frank Cass Publishers 2004), p9. 69

(Milton Keynes Development Corporation and others, The Plan for Milton Keynes (Milton Keynes Development 1970), p237. 70

Waterman, P. (1998) ‘Social development in action’, in Clapson, M., M. Dobbin and P. Waterman (eds.) The Best Laid Plans: Milton Keynes since 1967, Luton: University of Luton Press. 71

Jeff Bishop, Milton Keynes - the Best of Both Worlds? Public and Professional Views of a New City (School for Advanced Urban Studies, University of Bristol 1986), p6. 72

David D Harvey, Social Justice and the City (Blackwell Publishers 1988), p589.

(Milton Keynes Development Corporation and others, The Plan for Milton Keynes (Milton Keynes Development 1970), pp237-239. 74

Ibid. 69, p. 62.

Ibid. 69, p. 12.

‘Norman Foster’s Beanhill’ (1 August 2007) <http://www.building.co.uk/norman-fosters-beanhill/3092588. article#> accessed 8 January 2016. 77

MK News, ‘Social Atlas Reveals Worst Place to Live in Milton Keynes Is Beanhill’ (13 November 2012) <http://www.onemk.co.uk/Social-Atlas-reveals-worst-place-live-Milton-Keynes-Beanhill/story-22272777-detail/story.html> accessed 8 January 2016. 78

Ibid.

‘Obituaries: Richard MacCormac — the Twentieth Century Society’ (1 June 2016) <http://www.c20society. org.uk/publications/c20-magazine/c20-magazine-2014-03/obituaries-richard-maccormac/> accessed 8 January 2016. 80

Bryan Lawson, How Designers Think (2nd edn, Butterworth Architecture 1990), p173.

Pascaline Gaborit, European New Towns: Image, Identities, Future Perspectives (European Interuniversity Press 2010), p10. 82

Mark Clapson, A Social History of Milton Keynes: Middle England / Edge City (Peter Catterall Catterall ed, Frank Cass Publishers 2004), p124. 33

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Milton Keynes: The Making of a Suburban Dreamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; [2007] Building Design Online <http://www.bdonline. co.uk/milton-keynes-the-making-of-a-suburban-dream/3092485.article> accessed 21 October 2015. 34

Ibid. 82, p. 95.

Derek HT Walker, Steen Eiler Rosmussen> and Walker Derek, The Architecture and Planning of Milton Keynes (Architectural Press 1981), p10. 36

Social and Cultural Role within the New Town: Social Identity “It depends how closely one holds to the view that Milton Keynes was founded as a proletarian paradise rather than as a bastion for the bourgeoisie.”87

Although Milton Keynes is officially only a New Town despite attempts to gain city status; from the outset, the plan for Milton Keynes was to give it that framework and thus end target of becoming one. So forth, one will explore concepts and conditions of that in accordance to a city as the relevance of the New Town environment belongs to the latter more consistent manner. The value of cultural and spatial symbols or a place’s identity is an important competitive factor. The city is that social form which permits the greatest degree of individuality and uniqueness in each of its actual occurrences in the world.88 Yet due to the constantly evolving environments, as a consequence of competition, complementaries between town, periphery and the global economy, the result is that cities are becoming more and more uniform, thereby, losing their local character.89 According to philosopher Max Weber, he sought an ‘ideal-typical’ condition of the city, by which he meant a state of urban life that most nearly fulfilled the social capacities inherent in the organization of human settlement. Thus he believed that modern cities did not articulate or express any form of city culture.90 This raises the question for New Towns as they did not acquire any real historical roots when constructed, does it still hold any capacities of becoming the ‘ideal’ city?

Milton Keynes was built on 4,500 acres of relatively flat land with only a few derelict villages to expand from. However one must recognize the efforts used in terms of spatial planning where planners who have sought to embody some sensitivity from the long-standing English garden city traditions.91 A city’s pride was in its squares, parks and boulevards, to which buildings provided a complement. Milton Keynes returns to this urban tradition by making infrastructure a positive contribution.92 To a greater or lesser degree, the scale of society has changed, a village or a neighbourhood in a city had a social relevance at a time when physical nearness was the only possible basis for social contact.93 Falling in line with Melvin Webber’s explanation of ‘communities without propinquity’, provides a much more relevant argument that belongs to the present day. Perhaps one should consider the possibilities of using this tool to accentuate the role in nurturing the urban society. Despite the provision of local facilities for residents to interact, the existing problems appears to be still the lack of community spirit, stemming from the rational reason for inhabitants to move into Milton Keynes, they consequently “identify with their homes rather than with their towns.”94 A contributing factor could be the social structure that has dominated throughout the years since its creation. The rise of the service sector has proved that it is becoming an increasingly middle-class city following the peak of skilled workers, also with the rise of the Open University and the expansion of the secondary education provision.95 The opening of the hospital increased the size of the public sector bureaucracy in the city and occupational class gradually trended towards a professional and managerial class leading to an imbalance in favour of more affluent groups.96 Out of necessity interacting in city spaces; the emergence of social groups dwell in the city alongside one another, with the freedom of choice enclosed in a concentrated area, this fundamentally leads to group differentiation.97

Stated as part of its social goals, The Corporation declared that integration, involvement, and participation must occur if we are to ensure a well-functioning society. Yet in spite of this principle promoted by the MKDC; evidence showed that in the Skeffington Report, 1971, in practice â&#x20AC;&#x153;public participation conflicted with the nature of the Milton Keynes Development Corporation which wanted to build at a fast rate with minimum interference.â&#x20AC;?98 The surprising inability to adhere to this policy has possibly contributed to the decline of a community culture causing an inequality of sociality collapsing into violence. This absence of identity and pride also raised problems of antisocial behaviour. With the levels of this slowly increasing each year; particularly in the central zones of the New Town.99 One seeks to wonder whether divergent cultures within a common frame of public space has been lost; along with the capacity to celebrate unity and community.100 Or perhaps it is just a reflection of urbanization whereby the increase in societal scale has prompted an organizational shift in the relative importance of different kinds of social groups.101 As such, it leads me to examine if the modernist attempt to design such statement architecture throughout Milton Keynes has prepared the grounds for celebration in cultural diversity or is it simply an urban tolerance for the differences that prevail?102 One must not forget that the central goals within the plan for Milton Keynes placed a strong emphasis on social principles, through implementing the necessary fixed elements into the city, it should allow for the greatest possible scope for freedom and change as it is built.103 The basic services meant that it should be able to operate a form of character and identity to the place, such an ambition requires time by which it can nurture into a distinctive urban entity.

On the other hand, it is important to realise that social identity is not completely dependent on the certain existence of physical institutions and architecture that exhibit distinctive traits, but actually how potent they are in moulding the character of social life into our urban form.104 In line with this notion, I will also analyse this in the perspective of Robert Parkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s theory of the city in terms of its ecology, and that it is the physical vessels that shape the emotional, human experience of city men. Park assumed that psychic and moral conditions of living in a city would reflect themselves in physical ways of how space was used, in the patterns of human motion and transport. Therefore, culture could manifest directly through its tangible artefacts.105 Being an inhabitant of the New Town myself, I would associate certain characteristics in the conditioning of my social identity, from a young stage of living and being educated in an area which is quite tight-knit has allowed me to integrate over time, quite easily to a close community that I can proudly associate with. The range of facilities has granted me the freedom of choice to enjoy a full social life that involves interaction with a heterogeneity of groups thus contributing significantly to shaping the social character that I currently am. Despite this fact, certain associations within Milton Keynes has demonstrated varying levels of sociability emerging within the expanding city. Participation of these societies and organisations vary from local charities such as Age concern to political groups, Council for Racial equality, these opportunities offered have formed benign and responsive corporations which was ahead of the local government authorities in recognising the democratic place of urban change.106 To such a degree, it may be argued that MK does embrace the individual identities as a wider significance for both social development and continuity in the New Town.

Footnotes:

Robert Cook and Andrew Cook, More of Milton Keynes: Building on the Vision (1st edn, Sutton Publishing 2004), p6. 87

Richard Sennett, The German School Classic Essays on the Culture of Cities (New York, Appleton-Century-Crofts [1969] 1969), p6. 88

Pascaline Gaborit, European New Towns: Image, Identities, Future Perspectives (European Interuniversity Press 2010), p92. 89

Ibid . 88, p. 7.

Mark Clapson, A Social History of Milton Keynes: Middle England / Edge City (Peter Catterall Catterall ed, Frank Cass Publishers 2004), p8. 91

Derek HT Walker, Steen Eiler Rosmussen> and Walker Derek, The Architecture and Planning of Milton Keynes (Architectural Press 1981), p17. 92

Ibid., p8.

Ibid. 89, p. 96.

Ibid. 91, p. 95.

Ibid. 91, p. 96.

David D Harvey, Social Justice and the City (Blackwell Publishers 1988), p589.

Clapson, M. ‘Community and association in Milton Keynes since 1970’ in Mark Clapson and others, The Best Laid Plans: Milton Keynes since 1967 (University of Luton Press 1998), p82. 98

‘Central Milton Keynes and Campbell Park Neighbourhood’ (Thames Valley Police) <http://www.thamesvalley.police.uk/yournh/yournh-tvp-pol-area/yournh-tvp-pol-area-n337> accessed 7 January 2016. 99

100

Ibid. 97, p. 591.

101

Andrew Blowers, Chris Hamnett and Philip Sarre (eds), The Future of Cities (Routledge 2006), p93.

102

Ibid., 97.

Milton Keynes Development Corporation and others, The Plan for Milton Keynes (Milton Keynes Development 1970), p236. 103

Wirth, L. â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Urbanism as a way of life.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; in Richard Sennett, The German School Classic Essays on the Culture of Cities (New York, Appleton-Century-Crofts [1969] 1969), p147. 104

105

Ibid. 88, pp13-14.

Mark Clapson and others, The Best Laid Plans: Milton Keynes since 1967 (University of Luton Press 1998), p106. 106

Conclusion

â&#x20AC;&#x153;It depends how closely one holds to the view that Milton Keynes was founded as a proletarian paradise rather than as a bastion for the bourgeoisie.â&#x20AC;?107

To determine whether Milton Keynes has been able to exhibit the values in the direction to forming a utopian urbanism, one must seek to explore the outcomes implemented by the master plan to determine the extent that it has avoided becoming a dormitory town. Also, important in defining this goal, I will examine the ideologies proposed by various modernists in the study of urban and social effects from society. Perhaps from the outset, the Redway system was an uncertain scheme that would have resulted in more negatives than positives. Given that the Redway system is an exclusive network of roads separated from the motor car, one would think that the problems of speed elitism and prioritising modes of transport are thus controlled. The question lies in the approach to designing cycling infrastructure. There should be distinction between a scheme that accommodates the needs of cyclists and a system used to remove them from the main road. The Redway system is one which belongs more to the latter. It can be argued that if the new scheme was instigated and promoted by local authorities and schools, the environments of these neighbourhoods could become positive meeting places encouraging social interaction. Yet, the increasing trend of anti-social behaviour associated with these areas have had a contrary effect of deterring away people in utilising the network.

Another contributing factor could lie in the types of households for which the scheme was built for. In 1984, there was approximately 60% of households that had a child of school age or under five, statistically making the town a relatively young community.108 Although pathways are separated from the main traffic, many also ran parallel or had intersections of road crossings between estates. In turn, this put young children at risk of running into the road along with the existing pressure of fast cyclists, consequently deterring many families from using such a scheme. On the basis of these assumptions, the resultant reaction leads to the poverty of social contact and the thinness of economic activity. This increases the dependence on private transport to mend the deficiencies of the city.109 Which poses the greater question raised by Derek Walker, “do we want cities that are richly varied, or cities that make life easier for planners?”110 Perhaps a more sensible approach of dominant use plotting of the New Town will produce a better outcome for the Redway system. In the scheme of the grid plan, the focus on the needs of the motor car have determined almost every major element of the place; from the general location of land-uses to the transport structure.111 One questions the feasibility of adhering to the original principles of providing ‘maximum possible freedom of choice to future residents’, whilst trying to promote for ‘a high quality public transport system, not only for those who need it but for those who might choose to use it instead of private transport.’112 However, granting its relation to the speed at which evolving technologies and economies have transformed the city to create new forms, it has produced a field like urbanism of interconnected fabric driven by the freeway.113

The vision of urban society should encompass that these places give way to intensive producers and consumers of new technologies which shape the nature of the city. But at the same time, deliberation of whether these narratives and tools are the way forward in creating a realm for the urban fabric to develop should be brought into discussion. How can the altered order bring about new levels of mobility in alleviating the issue of public transport and road efficiency improving complex socioeconomic and cultural arrangements and unprecedented connectivity among peoples and places?114 The eagerness to impose ideas taken from American models must not be overridden by the need to solve the fundamental issues that occurred within previous generations of New Towns. Ignorance of such problems will lead to further consequences of elitism and social disparities for which will inevitably decline into a dormitory town. The feeling of being part of a community through residential means is a strong influence on how people perceive the city. In order to interpret the extent of social impact affected by the housing schemes raised in previous chapters, one must realise that the schemes of Beanhill and Coffee hall were subject to unpopular experimental housing bound by the earliest developments in Milton Keynes. It is thus imaginable that inhabitants expressed their persistent disappointment in such a way that resulted in behaviour that marginalised them from society. For a town to establish a means by which the inhabitants can feel satisfied and be proudly identified with living in requires certain factors and must be accumulated over time. Explicitly, the degree of such an ambition is indefinite in itself; how can you identify or class an individual as socially excluded? By what means is one estate ‘worse off’ than another? In effect, there is no accurate means to measure the success of social initiatives. In the view of philosopher, Thomas More in defining utopian society, “it appears to be the pursuit of happiness which consists in ‘every motion and state of the body of mind.”115 In essence, one can only implement a foundation as to minimize the social problems that exist in order to achieve this goal.

In the progressing function of architecture in conditioning the environment for social interaction, Soleri believed that community cannot be created if people lack a physical intimacy with one another, which cannot be substituted by any form of materialistic alternate. Therefore enclosed spaces provided the stimulation for this process. Internalisation of a place is the driver towards values that are fundamental to the social human.116 Particularly through theCentre:MK building, the style has proved to deliver an ecology for human discourse and intercourse, so that it may be an ideal social form that permits the greatest degree of enhancing the quality of life.117 Has the desire to perform such functionality within a building become an art of substantial materiality that is threatening our social habitat, generating mental processes that are more mechanized?118 Or instead illustrated that people’s distinct identities are still carried along by their ‘sacred centres’. The notion that having equity within the city requires participation of the individuals in order to have fulfilment of the whole. However one must take into account that the New Town was made on the principles to benefit people. The dominant factor was to serve as overspill from the main capital and has resulted in the inevitable, where there are groups of those who chose to move there and also certain individuals who are forced to live there due to compromising rental and housing costs. The paradox of assuming that every inhabitant will willingly participate towards a cultivating urban environment shows that social identity cannot be forced amongst entities. These findings suppose there will always be an ever-changing process that tries to evoke equity, there is no end point. Thus master plan goals provide a direction to this condition but do not comprise a finite solution, as Soleri reiterates, “there is no model that is benevolent, indifference is the resource that we have.”119 Contemporary urbanism requires measures and perceptions capable of withholding coherence and discontinuity in productive new mixtures. The social ecology of a city relies not on one individual form, as these can never be perceived as different. Transformation is redefined as difference over time, and all form is relational, based on interval and change.120 55

Through definition of the city by urbanists Robert Redfield, â&#x20AC;&#x153;The city may be imagined as that community in which orthogenetic and heterogenetic transformations of the folk society have most fully occurred.â&#x20AC;? Present-day features of a predominantly heterogenetic culture may be transformed in the future as new states of mind which are indifferent from the past, stimulating new political and social aspirations.121 Employing these theories, it is upon the architect and planner to actively intervene and transform this into a more fluid urban field.122 Until its formation into a city, does it remain insignificant to the public realm? Cities are the only places where things can happen in scale and quantity. The unique identities conveyed by Cities define its cultural means, the impact of humanity where critical masses are developed and the institutions established, attract people. But this identity also comes with a consequence of a dynamic that does not exist amongst individuality.123 The overall findings support the notion that whilst Milton Keynes is still in the making of becoming a city, to analyse whether it has successfully achieved a public vision in harmony with the urban society is thus unfinished because until it becomes of a definite nature, there can be no cultural identity.

Footnotes: Mark Clapson, A Social History of Milton Keynes: Middle England / Edge City (Peter Catterall Catterall ed, Frank Cass Publishers 2004), p14. 107

Buckinghamshire Local Population Survey 1984, BUCKINGHAMSHIRE, Buckinghamshire County Council September 1985, p9. 108

Derek HT Walker, Steen Eiler Rosmussen> and Walker Derek, The Architecture and Planning of Milton Keynes (Architectural Press 1981), p133. 109

110

Ibid., p. 135.

Jane Hobson, ‘NEW TOWNS, THE MODERNIST PLANNING’ (University College London 1999) <http:// www.ceelbas.ac.uk/dpu/k_s/publications/working_papers/f-j/wp108.pdf> accessed 21 October 2015. 111

Frederic J Osborn and others, New Towns: Their Origins, Achievements, and Progress (3rd edn, Blackie Academic & Professional (an Imprint of Chapman & Hall) 1978), p238. 112

Dana Cuff and Roger Sherman, Fast-Forward Urbanism: Rethinking Architecture’s Engagement with the City (1st edn, Princeton Architectural Press 2011), p37. 113

114

Ibid., p. 227.

115

Andrew Blowers, Chris Hamnett and Philip Sarre (eds), The Future of Cities (Routledge 2006), p7.

Paolo Soleri and John Strohmeier, The Urban Ideal: Conversations with Paolo Soleri (Berkeley Hills Books,US 2001), p66. 116

117

Ibid. 116, pp. 11-13.

118

Ibid. 116, p. 59.

119

Ibid. 116, pp. 42-47.

120

Ibid. 113, pp. 39-54.

Redfield, R ‘The Cultural Role of Cities.’ in Richard Sennett, The German School Classic Essays on the Culture of Cities (New York, Appleton-Century-Crofts [1969] 1969), pp 214-222. 121

122

Ibid. 113, p. 39.

123

Ibid. 116, p. 48. 57

Fig. 14: Milton Keynes Train Station, a demonstration of another example of Modernist architecture.

Fig. 15: Linear footpath following from Train Station to theCentre:MK

Fig. 16: American style avenues proceeding towards theCentre:MK within linear island of trees separating roads.

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