Urban Renaissance A better life in towns

Urban renaissance is a book in a form of a report written by Alun Sylvester-Evans a planner working in the department of environment a London government Body. This publication is for the council of Europe: European campaign for the urban renaissance in 1980.

The book serves a wide audience. Geographers who are interested in the city town planning development (morphology). Historians also might be interested in the effect of the second world war on the shape of the British towns and their continuous development and reformation. Architects benefit from the series of discussions about the conservation of British towns and heritage and the local character effect on British architecture. Planners and politicians find great benefit in this book when looking at the series of changes of British planning policy changes since the second world war. Finally, urban designers looking for a change in the preparation of development plans in the government and private sector since the second world war.

The book theme ( though descriptive) is about how towns and British cities witnessed an urban renaissance since the second world war. First, the creation of a town planning ministry and the issuing of development schemes to deal with the inner city development and the change to comprehensive planning, and the increase in political intervention in the planning process and approval. Second, what UK towns and cities were facing in terms of environmental problems and which of them were not solved properly like traffic problems, the conservative procedure and its relation to local character, the gradual process of urban renewal for housing development, and the introduction of physical standards for development. Third, the problem of industries spread within the towns and cities and relevant pollution problems, the government intervention in the industrial process created a benefit for government in understanding issues of industrial production, the relationship between government grants and national road program to develop transport system, the emergence of social policies in the late 1960s. Fourth, the government’s creation of public participation policy and its effect on delaying public planning work, the conflict in the planning process between public and private interest and developers and special interest groups, the local government system and how the system works, and the role and work of each part. I raise two questions here: Do we need to involve the public in every development proposal and take their opinion? The effectiveness of public participation in the development of towns and cities? you can refer to the new approach of plan making relevant to the UK planning systems in my series of articles.

The introduction describes what a reader will expect in the book like population concentration in cities and the pollution problem of the sanitary system concerning health and well-being. How car ownership and city boundary development created environmental problems. And finally the post-war city problems like areas decay, lack of employment, and poverty.

The book is describing the UK planning system and what was happening in reality as this means it’s related to planning professional practice. How development is happening when developing town centers and who is buying land and who is developing it.

The central idea that connects all chapters is the planning system and its defects and success. The five chapters of this book concerning the urban renaissance are: the quality of the urban environment, rehabilitating older residential areas, providing social and economic infrastructure, achieving community participation, and the role of the local authorities. The author provides many images of the towns and cities of older areas of renewal and new ones, as well as maps of development locations within the UK cities.

The book content does not reflect directly the title name in terms of what is an urban renaissance? How did it happen in UK towns and cities? And how to judge if the book illustrates the characteristics of urban renaissance in UK towns and cities. But the book index reflects directly every part of the book and its sub-chapters.

The author supplemented at the end of the book with many references from the ministry of environment, town planning institute, and other book references.

I read this book to get a grasp of how the UK planning system deals with the land policy and its relation to development and the required funds. But the book is merely a descriptive book of the UK planning system and how it works with some of the UK towns and cities urban renewal problems. I did not find what I was looking for about how the land use policy was created in the planning system and how it was developed and why.