Photo by John Moeses Bauan
|
New Towns were conceived of with a utopian ideal in mind; focusing on a natural, neighbourly, suburban way of life – one that allowed its residents escape from the toxic environment of urban life, reverting back to a pre-industrial aesthetic and ethos. |
We might see it as a precursor to current ecological campaigns. Every district were to have easy access to good schools and nurseries, play areas and parks. Every district were to have their own shopping districts, churches and community centres. The New Town was designed to be a cultural centre too, where its civic centre had a theatre, cinema and concert hall. Every type of home for every type of individual and family were built – often in sites and directions to maximise fresh air and sunshine.
In subsequent years and decades, this vision has not fulfilled its promises. Towns like Telford, Milton Keynes, Derry or Cwmbran have been left in the cultural and socio-economic shadow of their urban big brothers and rural little sisters. The infrastructures have aged and the small, stretched councils lack the funding and capacity to revitalise them. They’re seen as lacking the cultural capital that comes with historic towns or vibrant cities, and are often marginalised as “Service Station” type regions with little to offer outside of convenient commuting distances.
These are almost-places. Not-quite towns. And are now no-longer-new. There is something eerie and haunting about these places – areas that promised release and relief, and still show the slightly faded signs of these promises. Towns that glimpsed at a possible future, but are caught in the defunct eddy of that glance. Some offer another distinctly uncanny feel too – places like Ravenscraig in Scotland, or Poundbury in England hold a special kind of unfinished modernity, a ‘too new to be real’ spirit that some have called ‘Grimly Cute’.
These are almost-places. Not-quite towns. And are now no-longer-new. There is something eerie and haunting about these places – areas that promised release and relief, and still show the slightly faded signs of these promises. Towns that glimpsed at a possible future, but are caught in the defunct eddy of that glance. Some offer another distinctly uncanny feel too – places like Ravenscraig in Scotland, or Poundbury in England hold a special kind of unfinished modernity, a ‘too new to be real’ spirit that some have called ‘Grimly Cute’.
The list of New Towns we want responses to are:
Please note, this list is not exhaustive. We will consider submissions set in and about other “New Towns” that fit the feel, mood and criteria set out above.
Please note, this list is not exhaustive. We will consider submissions set in and about other “New Towns” that fit the feel, mood and criteria set out above.
|
ENGLAND
Bar Hill, Cambridgeshire Basildon, Essex Bracknell, Berkshire Cambourne, Cambridgeshire Corby, Northamptonshire Cranbrook, Devon Crawley, Sussex Dawley New Town, Shropshire Ebbsfleet, Kent Harlow, Essex Hatfield, Hertfordshire Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire Newton Aycliffe, County Durham Northampton, Northamptonshire Peterborough, Cambridgeshire Peterlee, County Durham Redditch, Worcestershire Runcorn, Cheshire Sherford, Devon Skelmersdale, Lancashire South Woodham Ferrers, Essex Stevenage, Hertfordshire Telford, Shropshire Warrington, Cheshire Washington, Tyne and Wear Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire Wixams, Bedfordshire |
SCOTLAND
Chapelton of Elsick Cumbernauld Dalgety Bay East Kilbride Erskine Glenrothes Inchinnan Irvine Kilwinning Livingston Ravenscraig Tweedbank |
WALES
Coed Darcy Cwmbran Newtown Tircoed |
NORTHERN IRELAND
Antrim Ballymena Craigavon Derry |