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Revisioning and Rebuilding Britain's War-Damaged Cities
[journal article]
Abstract This article presents an overview of Second World War bomb damage to British towns and cities and a systematic evaluation of the relationship between damage, revisioning, replanning, and actual reconstruction in a sample of cities - Bath, Birmingham, and Hull. Two were severely affected by aerial bo... view more
This article presents an overview of Second World War bomb damage to British towns and cities and a systematic evaluation of the relationship between damage, revisioning, replanning, and actual reconstruction in a sample of cities - Bath, Birmingham, and Hull. Two were severely affected by aerial bombing as port/industrial targets, and the third for propaganda purposes as a historical city. Two had extensive plans produced by eminent consultants (both involving Patrick Abercrombie) but the city managers of the third did not support "big plans." Birmingham, without a specific plan, rebuilt extensively and relatively quickly. Hull's plan was disliked locally and virtually vanished. Bath was repaired rather than rebuilt. These contrasting experiences have shaped the contemporary city via subsequent generations of replanning (not all of which was implemented) and, in Birmingham's case, the demolition of major reconstruction investments after relatively short lifespans. The article demonstrates the difficulty of conceptualising a generic approach to post-catastrophe reconstruction and the problems of such large-scale change over a short period for the longer-term effective functioning of the city.... view less
Keywords
Great Britain; World War II; post-war period; reconstruction; urban planning
Classification
Area Development Planning, Regional Research
Free Keywords
Bath; Birmingham; Hull; UK; post-war replanning; rebuilding; reconstruction; wartime bomb damage
Document language
English
Publication Year
2023
Page/Pages
p. 169-181
Journal
Urban Planning, 8 (2023) 1
Issue topic
Bombed Cities: Legacies of Post-War Planning on the Contemporary Urban and Social Fabric
ISSN
2183-7635
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed