Replanning post-war Birmingham
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Peter J. Larkham
Abstract
The problems and opportunities of post-war reconstruction in the UK are well demonstrated by the city of Birmingham, although what happened there is hardly typical of the country overall. The city was badly bombed, although damage was diffuse. Unusually, no formal ›reconstruction plan‹ was produced because city managers distrusted ›big plans‹, and because there were existing slum clearance plans and ring road aspirations. A new ring road and precinct developments dominated the rebuilt city centre, though the development process was slow and generated very mixed public responses. The architectural and urban forms created were also mixed, but concrete and brutalism reshaped the city’s image. Some of the buildings have not lasted well and were redeveloped after relatively short lives, and the technocentric, car-dominated approach has also failed, with sections of ring road also being redeveloped. This paper demonstrates that even a determined, single-minded approach to reconstruction takes decades to implement; and that changes in fashion and society may very quickly render that reconstruction obsolete
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Photo credits
Fig. 1, 3: reproduced with the permission of the Library of Birmingham — Fig. 2: Ginsburg collection, Birmingham City University — Fig. 4: Birmingham City Council 1995/8 — Fig. 5: Birmingham City Council 1956/7 — Fig. 6: reproduced with the permission of the Library of Birmingham, BCC Acc. 1999/077 box 22/66, undated — Fig. 7: Manzoni 1961 — Fig. 8, 9, 10: Cadbury 1952, 53, reproduced by permission of Bournville Village Trust — Fig. 11: Architect & Building News 4/6/58, 733 — Fig. 12: Madin archive — Fig. 13, 20: Photo: Peter Larkham — Fig. 14: Architect & Building News 11/9/68, 52 — Fig. 15: reproduced with the permission of the Library of Birmingham, BCC Acc. 1999/077 box 22/67 — Fig. 16: Cadbury 1952, 56; reproduced by permission of Bournville Village Trust — Fig. 17: Laing Development Company 1964 — Fig. 18, 19: base map compiled from Ordnance Survey sheets, 1960s–1970s. Crown copyright reserved
© 2016 Peter J. Larkham, published by De Gruyter
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- Aufsätze
- Replanning post-war Birmingham
- Architectural Reconstructions in post-war Poland
- Forgotten city
- Der Wiederaufbau von Florenz 1945
- Wiederaufbau aus dem Glauben
- La reconstruction de Royan
- Buchbesprechungen
- Der Dom zu Regensburg
- Die Praxis der Baustelle um 1900. Das Zürcher Stadthaus
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- Aufsätze
- Replanning post-war Birmingham
- Architectural Reconstructions in post-war Poland
- Forgotten city
- Der Wiederaufbau von Florenz 1945
- Wiederaufbau aus dem Glauben
- La reconstruction de Royan
- Buchbesprechungen
- Der Dom zu Regensburg
- Die Praxis der Baustelle um 1900. Das Zürcher Stadthaus
