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Potter, Stephen (1997). Overview of the English new towns [Chapter 1 keynote article]. In The New Towns Record, (CD ROM) Commission for the New Towns, London.
Abstract
This specially commissioned Keynote article provides an overview of the English New Towns 1946-1997. It documents the origins of the new towns programme, new town institutional structures and their economic and social performance. Their relationship to existing cities and the winding down to the new towns programme from the 1980s as successive governments focused more on inner city regeneration.
It is concluded that, despite the eventual curtailment and running down of the English New Town programme, it represents one of the most successful urban polices of post war Britain. Even given their accepted failings, the English New Towns have accommodated over a million people and have evolved into economically and socially successful communities. They remain a world-class model of best practice to students and practitioners of planning and urban studies - something that very few other areas of British urban, or other policies, can claim.
Plain Language Summary
This specially commissioned Keynote article provides an overview of the English New Towns 1946-1997. It documents the origins of the new towns programme, new town institutional structures and their economic and social performance. Their relationship to existing cities and the winding down to the new towns programme from the 1980s as successive governments focused more on inner city regeneration.
It is concluded that, despite the eventual curtailment and running down of the English New Town programme, it represents one of the most successful urban polices of post war Britain. Even given their accepted failings, the English New Towns have accommodated over a million people and have evolved into economically and socially successful communities. They remain a world-class model of best practice to students and practitioners of planning and urban studies - something that very few other areas of British urban, or other policies, can claim.
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