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Talking New Towns
Talking New Towns
Oral histories of Hatfield, Hemel Hempstead, Stevenage and Welwyn Garden City
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architecture

  • Community spirit and different types of New Town housing

    Community spirit and different types of New Town housing

    Gwen Marshall recalls her thoughts on the development of the Hemel Hempstead New Town.
  • Leonard Vincent about Stevenage pedestrianised Town Centre

    Leonard Vincent about Stevenage pedestrianised Town Centre

    Even if around the world the popularity of pedestrian town centres was increasing, Stevenage planners had to prevail against a strong opposition put up mainly by the Multiple Traders Association.
  • Leonard Vincent about the industrial area of Stevenage

    Leonard Vincent about the industrial area of Stevenage

    The planning of Stevenage was used by the Government as a Guinea Pig to amend the writing of the New Towns Act. Among the issues taken into consideration there was the siting of the industrial area.
  • Leonard Vincent about occupancy rates and census: how to plan the size of Stevenage households

    Leonard Vincent about occupancy rates and census: how to plan the size of Stevenage households

    Occupancy rates are calculated on old data and censuses, but people can't be expected to keep living the same way forever.
  • Leonard Vincent about the beginnings of Stevenage

    Leonard Vincent about the beginnings of Stevenage

    Because of the war both skills and materials were scarce when the New Town Act was approved, and this caused a long delay in the outset of the project.
  • Leonard Vincent about building issues: which kind of buildings and which techniques?

    Leonard Vincent about building issues: which kind of buildings and which techniques?

    The Development Corporation policy was to build prevalently traditional two-storey dwellings. The Government influenced the choice of the technique, pushing toward system building.
  • Leonard Vincent about the choice of building New Towns as opposed to rebuilding derelict areas

    Leonard Vincent about the choice of building New Towns as opposed to rebuilding derelict areas

    Devastated areas and overspill population were an enormous problem after WWII. The construction of New Towns was the easy way out, even if not the better solution probably
  • Leonard Vincent about the positioning of Stevenage town centre and roads

    Leonard Vincent about the positioning of Stevenage town centre and roads

    Different factors had to be taken into consideration for deciding where to place the centre and the roads of Stevenage. Among them: the geography of the area, the viewpoint of Old Town inhabitants and the Ministry's one, and the existing green areas that had to be preserved.
  • Leonard Vincent about traffic, residential areas and cycleways in Stevenage

    Leonard Vincent about traffic, residential areas and cycleways in Stevenage

    The planning of the main roads and the building of an independent cycleway network made Stevenage a safe town.
  • Leonard Vincent about the relationship between the Stevenage Development Corporation and the District Council

    Leonard Vincent about the relationship between the Stevenage Development Corporation and the District Council

    The Development Corporation and the Urban District Council didn't see eye to eye on many things.
  • Leonard Vincent about the size of the neighbourhoods in Stevenage

    Leonard Vincent about the size of the neighbourhoods in Stevenage

    The 10,000 neighbourhood idea was taken from the Abercrombie plan, but such neighbourhoods are too big to be communities: neighbours are strangers to each other.
  • Gorbing about qualifying as a planner

    Gorbing about qualifying as a planner

    'They had set up a school of regional association of planning and research in London which was attached to London University and they ran a correspondence course so by 47 I was a qualified Associate of the Town Planning Institute.'
  • Raymond Gorbing about setting up a planning office

    Raymond Gorbing about setting up a planning office

    This excerpt is about setting up a planning office in Nottingham, but it will give you an idea about how the planning offices were working in the first years.
  • Architect Raymond Gorbing on housing density in Stevenage

    Architect Raymond Gorbing on housing density in Stevenage

    '...They would say 'look that’s the amount of money you’ve got to build a house' if you like, 'building 600 houses that's the amount of money you’ve got.'...'
  • Architect Edleston about buildings covered with cladding

    Architect Edleston about buildings covered with cladding

    Mr Edleston has a view on modern architecture, and thinks it is best covered with climbing plants?
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