Archinect - News

Are New Towns really the best new hope for ending the UK housing crisis?

2024-08-19T17:45:00-04:00

Last month, the [UK] government announced a task force to develop a strategy for new towns — settlements of more than 10,000 homes — and make recommendations for their locations within a year. The government has not set a target for the number of towns and acknowledges that they will take a long time to deliver.

Britain, short on more than four million homes, is mulling a revival of its post-war New Towns after a decisive Labour Party victory vaulted progressive leadership into power with a mandate to combat its ongoing housing crisis. Prime Minister Keir Starmer recently told the BBC that he is a self-identifying YIMBY who wants to "bulldoze" planning rules and overrule local-led resistance to get it done. The strategy, which preceded a new plan central to Kamala Harris’ Presidential campaign, could still regrettably wind up hemmed in by a notoriously parochial planning process which, nevertheless, gifted the world with Milton Keynes and other important architecture.

His deputy Angela Rayner says the list of sites to be developed won't be revealed until the end of this year. RIBA's President Muyiwa Oki has said at the outset that their plan "offers overarching solutions, but lacks critical detail on delivering social housing and futureproofing existing homes."

Driverless cars hit the streets of Milton Keynes

2016-10-11T20:49:00-04:00

Driverless cars will trundle around the UK in their first public trials today. The demonstration of the autonomous electric vehicles is going to take place on the pavements of Milton Keynes. These tests will be the culmination of an 18-month research project which involved virtually mapping the town and updating regulations for driverless vehicles.

For the latest on advances in self-driving cars:

Milton Keynes invests in driverless cars over public transit infrastructure

2015-10-10T05:03:00-04:00

Milton Keynes is currently the host city for a set of driverless car trials funded indirectly by the U.K. government — the most ambitious testing yet staged in the world. If all goes as planned, by 2018, Milton Keynes’ downtown will be served by an on-demand, publicly run system of 30 to 40 driverless two-seater pod cars, which will allow residents to travel between any two points in the city’s downtown without navigating or reacting to obstacles themselves.

For a glimpse of the LUTZ Pathfinder autonomous vehicles in action, check out the video below: