Simon Jenkins provides a timely account of how, from the 1960s onwards, plans for wholesale demolition of large parts of urban areas began to be challenged (The ransacking of Britain: why the people finally rose up against ‘sod you architecture’, 28 October). He cites the 1974 Covent Garden revolt, which saw citizens, enlightened planners such as Ian Robert Christie – whose legacy is to be honoured by a new award for planning achievement at the University of Liverpool – and eventually politicians questioning the previously axiomatic tenets of comprehensive redevelopment. Christie’s work made some then rather novel proposals such as that the whole area should be designated a conservation area, the existing street pattern should be retained, and housing policy should ensure that low-income residents were not displaced.
Such suggestions illustrate that while, as Jenkins argues, better plans and cities may not be realised until Britons “learn to speak architecture”, there are also other matters to consider, if as a society we are to get better urban places to live in. These include a wider appreciation of townscape, how different forms of development deliver or hinder sought-after social, economic, environmental, or cultural goals, and how citizens can engage in the planning process.
