Ideal industries

The modern metropolis –new directions for planning

 

The squalor of industrial slums motivated some enlightened British employers to create model villages and towns to provide better housing and living conditions for their workers. Soap manufacturer William Lever created Port Sunlight near Liverpool, England. And George Cadbury sponsored Bournville near his chocolate factory outside Birmingham. These employers linked decent living conditions with industrial productivity, but their communities also provided design ideas for others to follow and improve upon.

 

Legislating improvement

Recognition that frameworks were needed to ensure the orderly development of towns and cities led to new planning laws. A variety of new rules covered issues such as land use zoning, population density and building height limitations. Along with these ‘statutory’ regulations came detailed city studies with strategic recommendations. Scottish planner Patrick Geddes is associated with the influential mantra of ‘survey-analysis plan’.