‘Making architecture relevant’
Planners, architects and the Essex Design Guide , c. 1973–79
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 17587262 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Alistair Fair (0000-0002-8884-0965, University of Edinburgh, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Pages | 1-23 |
| Publication date | 2026-04-08 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Planning Perspectives (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0266-5433 • E-ISSN: 1466-4518 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/02665433.2026.2651180 |
| OpenAlex | W7152038141 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 13 |
Essex County Council’s Design Guide for Residential Areas, published in 1973, is best known as the progenitor of what became the standard style of 1980s English low-rise housing, featuring brick, tile, timber boarding, and ‘vernacular’ touches. Yet as much the image of the architecture encouraged by the Design Guide suggests a ‘retreat’ from modernism, to see the guide solely in those terms overlooks three key elements of the publication, which are the subjects of this article. First, whilst reflecting growing interest in local character and history, the Guide drew on and developed approaches which could also be understood to relate to modernism, not least the ideas of Gordon Cullen and Ian Nairn, and the Townscape movement. Second, while visually contextual, the Guide was radical in its proposals for traffic planning, rejecting the generously spaced frontages which were then planning orthodoxy. Third, the Guide aimed not to weaken the role of the planner by offering a template for non-expert emulation, but rather was intended as a statement of the value of the expert architect-planner. By abandoning fixed standards for a more flexible approach, the Guide stressed professional judgement in the context of specific sites. An examination of the Guide thus offers the chance to reflect on the status of the trained expert and the nature of collaborative design in a period of administrative and architectural change
Architecture, Design, and Social History · Architecture, Modernity, and Design · Political and Economic history of UK and US · Architecture
| Highly cited | No |
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