Planned Communities – 2

Well-planned communities are vibrant communities.

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For urban life to form, it requires a centre to form around – and our streets should be crucibles for community life.

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At some point, our cities ceased to be for people. We turned squares into car parks, streets into thoroughfares, and cafés into drive-throughs.‍

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Without any social blueprint, traditional town centres used to define their communities: a narrow street, a fountain, a church, the marketplace. Social encounter was a natural part of life. 

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In planned communities, such things don’t happen by accident.

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Development teams with a vision and the courage to realise it are required. These visionaries exist today. The question is whether we give them the space to act before another housing estate turns into a soulless dormitory.