Thesis-1998-Owen.pdf (12.43 MB)
Developing new communities: the progress of three private sector new settlements 1960-1993
thesis
posted on 2014-10-07, 15:03 authored by Christopher R. OwenIn the light of increasing interest in new settlements through the 1980s and early 1990s,
this thesis examines the development of three existing private sector new settlements. The
study examines the development of three case study sites, East Goscote in Leicestershire,
Bar Hill in Cambridgeshire and Martlesham Heath in Suffolk. It assesses what new light
the development of such sites can shed upon existing understandings of the development of
place and community, and the changing nature of urban form in the context of the modem
to post-modem transition noted by geographers over the past thirty years. It also aims to
place new settlements in a wider historical context, examining the theoretical assumptions
they inherit from earlier attempts to create new places, notably the garden cities movement,
and the state new towns programme.
The case studies examine the origins of each of the three sites, and follow their physical
development to the present day, analysing what events, personalities and assumptions
shaped their final form. They address the extent to which the development of each site was
a response to local contingencies, or to wider forces, and draw out both the similarities and
the differences between each site. The study also looks at the way in which community
organisations have developed in each of the three sites, and to what extent each community
has developed a sense of its own identity and cohesion. In doing so, it determines the
extent to which concepts of place and community are relevant in the context of new
settlements, and in the context of contemporary urban forms.
The thesis illustrates that these three new settlements were primarily local, contingent
responses, but also indicates that there are common patterns to their growth. The study also
shows the considerable similarities new settlements share with early garden cities, and the
extent to which they were also affected by the state new towns programme. In addition, it
illustrates that notions of place identity and community are shaped by a small number of
individuals, and concludes that such concepts remain valid, though subject to constant
change and renegotiation.
History
School
- Social Sciences
Department
- Geography and Environment
Publisher
© Christopher R. OwenPublisher statement
This work is made available according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) licence. Full details of this licence are available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/Publication date
1998Notes
A Masters Thesis. Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of Master of Philosophy of Loughborough University.Language
- en