Informed Conservation
2 total works
The Coventry Blitz of 14 November 1940 was a key event of the Second World War and in the growth of public consciousness of the destructive power of warfare. The medieval city, already undergoing rapid change, was largely destroyed on that night. The destruction was seen as an opportunity by some including the then City Architect, Donald Gibson. The result was the first of the master plans for post-war redevelopment of Britain's bombed city centres. The redevelopment of Coventry city centre to plans by Gibson and his successors provided an intensely urban and civilised centre, embodying new planning principles. Post-war Coventry was hugely influential and Gibson's ideas helped to shape the rebuilding of other city centres, the post-war new towns and developments in Europe. Despite incremental change in the subsequent decades the planning and architecture of Gibson's city centre are still clearly legible.
The modern demands of a growing city on its centre are now very different from those of the post-war years. Coventry needs to grow and plan for its future and change will inevitably affect the city centre. This book aims to inform the public and decision makers of the significance of Coventry, and especially its centre, so that change can be managed in ways that will continue the life, use and enjoyment of the best of Coventry's remarkable post-war heritage.
Post-war reconstruction offered unparalleled opportunities to the developing profession of urban planners to cast off the constraints imposed by historic infrastructure and produce a new vision of urban living, expressed in rationally designed city centres linked to suburban precincts and with modern integrated transport systems. Plymouth is the foremost English example of post-war reconstruction on the grand scale, laid out to the designs of the most influential urban planner of the day, Sir Patrick Abercrombie. This book explains the circumstances which led to the development of Abercrombie's Plan for Plymouth (1943) and shows how the plan was implemented in the period 1945-62.
Discussion of the overall scheme for the renewed city is complemented by description of the different zones which made up both the central area and the new suburbs, and attention is paid to the landscape forms and architectural styles employed in civic, commercial and residential areas. The significance of what was achieved in Plymouth will be assessed and international context is provided by comparison with British and European examples of contemporary planning. Urban regeneration programmes pose a threat to the legacy of the post-war reconstruction period, and the listing of post-war buildings is often contentious and contested.
Finally, a discussion of the conservation issues raised by present-day plans for renewal in Plymouth will contribute to current debate about the formulation of policy relating to the buildings and landscapes of the post-war era.