November 8, 2024
On this year's World Town Planning Day we've been raising our monocles and looking back at the pre-eminent town planner Patrick Abercrombie. Not only fitting because he was the founding member of the RTPI (then the Town Planning Institute) but also a very present influence around our Plymouth home.
Abercrombie and Paton-Watson's "A Plan for Plymouth" dated 1943 proposed a radical and all-encompassing vision for the city that was devastated by WWII bombing campaigns, and was informed by a "bold and comprehensive" approach that sought to address the city and its environs history, geography, demography and agriculture. The Plan drew upon the Beaux Arts 'City Beautiful' style and proposed the almost complete removal of the old city centre with the formation of a grand north to south axis, connecting the railway station to the Hoe, originally called Phoenix Way, renamed as Armada Way. Crossing this axis a grid of streets formed the main commercial, business and civic areas of the city. A grand east to west road (Royal Parade) separated the civic and commercial areas, with the whole area surrounded by a traffic-diverting ring road.
The realisation of the Plan began in 1947 with the first buildings completed along Royal Parade in 1949 to 1950 and culminating with the opening of the Civic Centre in 1962. Although there has been change to buildings and some loss, the plan is still clearly evident today with its significance to Post-War reconstruction recognised in its conservation area status. The ongoing regeneration of the town centre continues to build upon these key elements with the ongoing improvements to Armada Way and the revitalisation of the Civic Centre which will see the introduction of over 100 new homes in the Grade II Listed building, aligning with the Council's new vision for a greater intensity and vibrant mix of uses in the centre.
It's certainly an exciting time for Plymouth and for town planning with the ever-complex challenges we face as professionals, particularly in our cities which offer up many challenges but also the opportunities to delivering equitable, inclusive and sustainable solutions to delivering new homes. We think Abercrombie summed it up pretty well in the foreword to the A Plan for Plymouth...
“Planning is not merely the plotting of the streets of a town; its fundamental essence is the conscious co-relation of the various uses of the land to the best advantage of all inhabitants. Good planning therefore, presupposes a knowledge and understanding of the people, their relationship to their work, their play, and to each other, so that in the shaping of the urban pattern, the uses to which the land is put are so arranged as to secure an efficient, well-balanced and harmonious whole.”
