Reconciling History with Modernity: 1940s Plans for Durham and Warwick

During the 1940s a series of remarkable and radical planning documents were produced for many British cities, generally now collectively referred to as ‘reconstruction plans’. Universally these sought to introduce a highly interventionist, comprehensive planning, often with strong elements of ‘clean sweep’ reconstruction. This article considers two such plans, for the historic cities of Durham and Warwick. It examines how they sought to reconcile the desire to achieve functional modern places with historic character, in a period of growing consciousness of the historic qualities of place. The paper concludes by briefly considering the legacy of these plans on ideas about planning historic towns and cities.