Utopia and Reality

By: Katrina Navickas

The New Town of Stevenage exemplified the post-war compromise, and is now being reassessed — but the truth is it was neither a ‘crap town’ nor a utopia.

Chief architect and planner Leonard Vincent pictured walking around Stevenage centre, still under construction, September 1958. (Geoffrey Day / Mirrorpix / Getty Images)

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After decades of being maligned as ‘crap towns’, post-war new towns are seeing a resurgence of interest and investment. Like the current trend for mid-century modern design, the idea (perhaps more than the material reality) of new towns is attractive, because they’re associated with a perceived utopianism and optimism of the post-war period in Britain. […]

Medium

After decades of being maligned as ‘crap towns’, post-war new towns are seeing a resurgence of interest and investment. Like the current trend for mid-century modern design, the idea (perhaps more than the material reality) of new towns is attractive, because they’re associated with a perceived utopianism and optimism of the post-war period in Britain. […]

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After decades of being maligned as ‘crap towns’, post-war new towns are seeing a resurgence of interest and investment. Like the current trend for mid-century modern design, the idea (perhaps more than the material reality) of new towns is attractive, because they’re associated with a perceived utopianism and optimism of the post-war period in Britain. […]

After decades of being maligned as ‘crap towns’, post-war new towns are seeing a resurgence of interest and investment. Like the current trend for mid-century modern design, the idea (perhaps more than the material reality) of new towns is attractive, because they’re associated with a perceived utopianism and optimism of the post-war period in Britain. […]

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