Anglo-American Crossroads Urban Planning and Research in Britain, 1940-2010

Anglo-American Crossroadsoffers an important contribution to the subject of British regeneration in the twentieth century. Mark Clapson investigates a crucial post-World War II period, when both the USA and Britain were poised to make decisions about land use that would help shape modern community structure. Beginning with wartime debates about the nature of the reconstruction of postwar Britain, the book then focuses on the adoption of American concepts on the design of postwar new towns and new communities, the urban renewal of inner cities since the 1970s, and the regeneration of de-industrialised and impoverished areas since the 1980s. The focus is on evaluating the successes and shortcoming of American influences on urban research and policy. Despite highlighting some failures in urban policies, the book is an antidote to fashionable anti-Americanism, emphasizing the many successful conceptual, financial and practical inputs from the USA.

Mark Clapson is Reader in History in the Department of Social and Historical Studies at Westminster University, UK.

1. Atlantic Interchanges and the British City: Some Key Themes \ 2. Roads to Reconstruction: The Rockefeller Foundation and the Special Housing Mission in wartime Britain \ 3. Green Lights for Understanding: the American Contribution to Urban Research in Britain from the1940s to the 1970s \ 4. Neighbourhoods and Dead Ends: American influences upon the planning of new communities in postwar Britain \ 5. Roads to Edge City: motorways, Milton Keynes and out-of-town urbanization \ 6. The Opposite Direction: British influences upon new community planning in North America during the 1960s \ 7. Avoiding Danger: the USA and the regeneration of the inner city in Britain since 1970 \ 8. Some conclusions and connections