Central Lancashire New Town: the hidden polycentric supercity

Abstract

[EN] From 1962 Lancashire, in England, became the focus of a major renewal scheme: the creation of a ‘super-city’ for 500,000 people. The last and largest New Town designated under the 1965 Act, Central Lancashire New Town (CLNT) differed from other New Towns. Although influenced by the ideals and example of Garden City model, its master plan followed new and proposed infrastructure to connect the sub-region’s poly-centricity. By unifying and expanding existing towns and settlements it aimed to generate prosperity on a sub-regional scale using the New Towns Act, rather than creating a single new self-sufficient urban development. CLNT’s scale, poly-centricity and theoretical growth made it unique compared to other new town typologies and, although not realised, its planning can be traced across Lancashire’s urban and rural landscape by communication networks and city-scale public and civic buildings. With reference to diagrams for the British New Towns of Hook, Milton Keynes and Civilia, this paper will contextualize and evaluate CLNT’s theoretical layout and its proposed expansion based on interdependent townships, districts and ‘localities’. The paper will conclude by comparing CLNT’s theoretical diagram with its proposed application and adaptation to the sub-region’s topographical physical setting.