Hostages to history? The surprising survival of critical comments about British planning and planners c. 1942–1955

Larkham, Peter J.

doi:10.1080/02665433.2011.575561

Cited by 9 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…Regardless of authorship, plans had to be approved by the ministry (Ministry of Works andBuildings, 1940-1943;Ministry of Town andCountry Planning, 1943-1951;Ministry of Housing and Local Government from 1951). Staff of the Ministry of Town and Country Planning's Planning Technique section, a wartime innovation, were extremely critical of many plans-including those produced by its own former staff (such as Thomas Sharp) or other eminent planners (such as Patrick Abercrombie; see Hasegawa, 2013b;Larkham, 2011).…”

Section: The Nature Of the Plans And Visions For The Futurementioning

confidence: 99%

“…(Gatliff, 1946) Although the ministry was generally dismissive of plans produced by people outside its own staff, this was an unusually vituperative comment (cf. Hasegawa, 2013b;Larkham, 2011). Faced with this opposition, and the intractable railway problems, the plan sank virtually without a trace, and indeed the city archives have retained few records of this expensive commission.…”

Section: The Examples Of Bath Birmingham and Hullmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Revisioning and Rebuilding Britain’s War-Damaged Cities

Larkham

Adams

2022

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This article presents an overview of Second World War bomb damage to British towns and cities and a systematic evaluation of the relationship between damage, revisioning, replanning, and actual reconstruction in a sample of cities—Bath, Birmingham, and Hull. Two were severely affected by aerial bombing as port/industrial targets, and the third for propaganda purposes as a historical city. Two had extensive plans produced by eminent consultants (both involving Patrick Abercrombie) but the city managers of the third did not support “big plans.” Birmingham, without a specific plan, rebuilt extensively and relatively quickly. Hull’s plan was disliked locally and virtually vanished. Bath was repaired rather than rebuilt. These contrasting experiences have shaped the contemporary city via subsequent generations of replanning (not all of which was implemented) and, in Birmingham’s case, the demolition of major reconstruction investments after relatively short lifespans. The article demonstrates the difficulty of conceptualising a generic approach to post-catastrophe reconstruction and the problems of such large-scale change over a short period for the longer-term effective functioning of the city.

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Section: The Nature Of the Plans And Visions For The Futurementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Examples Of Bath Birmingham and Hullmentioning

confidence: 99%

Revisioning and Rebuilding Britain’s War-Damaged Cities

Larkham

Adams

2022

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“…The documentation has allowed historians to chart the development of new administrative structures, policy, and legislation Voldman 1983), in addition to revealing some surprising tensions between central and local authorities, and between individuals, sometimes resulting in explicit conflict (Lewis 2013). In the UK, for example, the Ministry's civil servants were very critical of almost all of the plans sent by local authorities for approval, irrespective of the eminence of the plan authors or the comprehensiveness of the plan (Larkham 2011;Hasegawa 2013).…”

Section: Post-world War II Reconstructionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Routledge handbook of planning history

Meller

2018

Planning Perspectives

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The Routledge Handbook of Planning History offers a comprehensive interdisciplinary overview of planning history since its emergence in the late 19th century, investigating the history of the discipline, its core writings, key people, institutions, vehicles, education, and practice. Combining theoretical, methodological, historical, comparative, and global approaches to planning history, The Routledge Handbook of Planning History explores the state of the discipline, its achievements and shortcomings, and its future challenges.A foundation for the discipline and a springboard for scholarly research, The Routledge Handbook of Planning History explores planning history on an international scale in thirty-eight chapters, providing readers with unique opportunities for comparison. The diverse contributions open up new perspectives on the many ways in which contemporary events, changing research needs, and cutting-edge methodologies shape the writing of planning history.

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“…Elsewhere, Shapely (this time in Twentieth Century British History ) has examined the changing role of local government in the twentieth century, with attention given to their increasing postwar entrepreneurial activities in establishing partnerships with private developers to undertake major redevelopments in the old industrial areas. Larkham (in a short note in Planning Perspectives ) has delved into some surprising material in the National Archives and presents us with a discussion of the acerbic and dismissive (and sometimes personal) comments made by officials in the Ministry of Town and Country Planning towards both planners and the general principles of postwar urban planning. Finally we should note the large‐scale, postwar efforts to manage social change discussed in Ortolano's study of Buckinghamshire county council's 1960s proposals to build a ‘futuristic’ monorail city.…”

Section: Since 1945mentioning

confidence: 99%