Learning the lessons of the twentieth century in designing housing developments for the twenty-first.

Drawing on its own research into housing and social wellbeing, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation proposed a new community on the edge of York, developed in partnership with the City of York Council - almost 100 years on from the development of Joseph Rowntree's own garden village of New Earswick, York.

The story of the masterplanning process is told in this web book featuring the four competing masterplans that were commissioned. All the plans, diagrams and illustrations are available in full colour, and there are additional chapters arguing the case for masterplanning, describing the intensive consultation with the local community, and commenting on the ideas put forward in the masterplans.

The full publication be can downloaded by clicking on the link below. Please note that the publication is in Adobe Acrobat version 5 and is a large document (6.28MB) so will take a long time to download.

Download the publication in PDF format here. (PDF, 6.28MB)

Authors: Chapters by Les Sparks (previously Chief Planner and Chief Architect, Brighton City Council), Kelvin MacDonald (Director, ROOM), Lord (Richard) Best (Director, Joseph Rowntree Foundation), and Peter Marcus (Policy and Practice Development Manager, Joseph Rowntree Foundation).

Content: Joseph Rowntree Foundation with masterplans by Aire Design, EDAW, John Thompson & Partners and PRP Architects. Published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2001.