The History Of How We Live Today
This is the story of how British society has developed from a land of rural farming communities, into the complex urban society we know today.
The metamorphosis of society is told by looking at key developments which have had a significant part to play in altering the course of social history and have had a marked effect on our world.
A handful of remarkable visionaries responding to the social issues of the times in which they lived, some for financial gain, others for purely philanthropic reasons, have made their individual contributions to a fascinating history.
The 50th anniversary of the inception of Milton Keynes, coupled with the construction at Ebbsfleet in Kent of the first Garden City for nearly a century, means this story is more relevant than ever.
Model Villages of the Industrial Revolution
A rural way of life centred around farms and tiny market towns gives way to urban living. This transformation is driven by new industry which demands a consolidated workforce for new mills and factories. The unprecedented situation results in squalor and slum living for millions in swelling towns and cities. Philanthropic Industrialists, led by the pioneering inventor Richard Arkwright, create ‘Model Villages’ consisting of housing and amenities for the workforce. These early endeavours, most notably Saltaire created by Titus Salt in the mid 1800s, are the beginnings of modern town planning.
As cities grow due to industrialisation, an increasing sense of disconnect from a rural way of life becomes apparent. At the end of the 1800s a group of radical thinkers led by Ebenezer Howard seek an alternative way of life. In 1895 Ebenezer Howard’s ‘Garden Cities of To-morrow’ is published, it sets out his plan to create a community consisting of the most desirable elements of town and country life. Howard’s dream becomes a reality with the creation of Letchworth Garden City. The ideas pioneered by Ebenezer Howard have revolutionary implications on town and country planning.
In the wake of World War Two it is decided by the British government that overspill towns are required to ease overcrowding in cities. Inspired by the precedent of Garden Cities a number of countrywide projects are undertaken. In 1967 parliament announces a plan to create a brand new city in Buckinghamshire fit for 250,000 inhabitants, it is named Milton Keynes after a tiny village which exists within the 100 hectare expanse of the new metropolis. Milton Keynes is described by its audacious young architect, Derek Walker, as ‘the city in a forest’ and is a bold combination of rural idyll and American inspired modernity, built around a grid system of highways.
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