TY - JOUR
T1 - The post-war reconstruction planning of London
AU - Larkham, Peter J.
AU - Adams, David
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2023/4/21
Y1 - 2023/4/21
N2 - The replanning of London following the Second World War is, in many ways, a familiar story. However it has often been told in fragments, usually prioritising the best-known plans and the involvement of Professor Patrick Abercrombie. This paper positions the replanning more widely, considering a hierarchy from region to specific locales, and the problems of fragmented planning within such a structure. It explores issues of agents, agency and authority. The sanitized and orderly vision of a new London is set against a more complex and disordered reality of reconstruction-plan production. The urgency, scale and complexity of the task, and questions of why should ‘author’ plans, are significant issues. The realities of postwar London have been shaped by a messy and misunderstood process.
AB - The replanning of London following the Second World War is, in many ways, a familiar story. However it has often been told in fragments, usually prioritising the best-known plans and the involvement of Professor Patrick Abercrombie. This paper positions the replanning more widely, considering a hierarchy from region to specific locales, and the problems of fragmented planning within such a structure. It explores issues of agents, agency and authority. The sanitized and orderly vision of a new London is set against a more complex and disordered reality of reconstruction-plan production. The urgency, scale and complexity of the task, and questions of why should ‘author’ plans, are significant issues. The realities of postwar London have been shaped by a messy and misunderstood process.
KW - London
KW - post-Second World War
KW - replanning
KW - reconstruction
KW - authority
KW - Patrick Abercrombie
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U2 - https://doi.org/10.1080/02665433.2023.2200400
DO - https://doi.org/10.1080/02665433.2023.2200400
M3 - Article
SN - 0266-5433
JO - Planning Perspectives
JF - Planning Perspectives
ER -