Changing Approaches to the Design of British New Town Centres

The first chapter is a brief introduction to the new town movement by looking back in history from the Garden City movement to the new towns policy and Acts of Parliament. The different approaches to the design in the three generations of new towns will be defined in the example of Harlow, Cumbernauld and Milton Keynes, with the emphasis on the composition of their centres. In the third chapter the three town centres will be analyzed in terms of functional and visual devices on the basis of elements defined as performances of town centres. The number of plates may look excessive but it was necessary to give the reader the possibility of visiting the whole centre. After the analysis of the three centres, attributes and deficiences will be outlined to lead to some recommendations for future town centres. Finally a proposal for remedying action will be made for one town centre, Cumbernauld