max_fun Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 I pass by Milton Keynes once in a while enroute to Uni, and all Iheard about the city is how boring it is, and nobody in their rightminds would go there. After hearing that for so many years, I wasrather curious to find out for myself about it. So the last time Iwent back to the UK and I had a Sat free, I decided to pay it a visit.<p>Milton Keynes, or MK, is a city that's apparently designed and plannedfrom scratch, I guess a little bit like Canberra in Australia.Personally, I have no problem with new towns and stuff, but the weirdthing is that at the center of MK, instead of a high street that you'dexpect, you have a huge mall, that's uncharacteristically large for UKstandards. It's almost like a statement of modern civilisation andconsumerism, where the Churches of God, that was usually at the centerof people's lives and towns, have evolved into Temples ofCommercialization and Consumption. But I guess one of the greatestsins is that I couldn't find a pub there :P<p>I then went out to look for estates where people lived, and it waslittle scary, because all the buildings there looked exactly the same.There were just rows and rows of cookie cutouts of homes. I felt alittle like Twilight Zone meets 1984.<p>Anyway, on with some photos...<p><a><img src="http://www.pbase.com/supperman/image/38086211.jpg"></a><p><a><img src="http://www.pbase.com/supperman/image/38061215.jpg"></a><br>A market outside the big Market.<p><a><img src="http://www.pbase.com/supperman/image/38086207.jpg"></a><p><a><img src="http://www.pbase.com/supperman/image/38086208.jpg"></a><br>At the Mall.<p><a><img src="http://www.pbase.com/supperman/image/38086210.jpg"</a><p><a><img src="http://www.pbase.com/supperman/image/37327200.jpg"></a><br>One of the residential areas.<p>Visually, it was a nice break from the surroundings I was familiarwith, and the only unfortunate thing was that I'd thought to bring myContax RTSII for one last whirl before I put the lenses on the dock,but I still managed to mis-load the camera, so I lost a whole chunk ofphotos. Thank God I had my trusty M with me. You can see the rest ofthe gallery<a><href="http://www.pbase.com/supperman/milton_keynes">here</a>. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terry_rory Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 Come along now lets all sing...... Little boxes on the hillside, Little boxes made of ticky-tacky, Little boxes, little boxes, Little boxes, all the same. There's a green one and a pink one And a blue one and a yellow one And they're all made out of ticky-tacky And they all look just the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnny massey Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 Yep, very Orwellian, Max, thanks for pointing out the existence of the outdoor market and . . . pedestrians! Very old-school. Johnny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brunom Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 Max I have memories of Milton Keynes, or doughnut[or roundabout] city, as it is known in London, and really all I can recall,apart from the nice people at Leica is the roundabouts! Even my son's priest described it as the most soulless place in the UK? Regards Bruno Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beatrice_flowers Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 Uhmm... so where's the photos of the Orwelian parts of town? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opc Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 North of New Orleans in St. Tammany Parish (Parish = County), there are 6 or 7 quaint little towns that have been around for 150 years. However, on the highways that connect these towns, new subdivisions are rapidly being built with such great names as Hunter's Glen, Quail Creek, or The Woodlands. All have well designed and aestheticly pleasing entrances welcoming you to the new american nirvana. Once inside you realize all of the houses are one of three or four box designes that melt together in an almost surreal manner. Ofcourse, all the big box retailers such as wal-mart and home depot have set up shop. The Starbucks are in the strip malls next to the supercuts. When you take your coffee and sit outside to enjoy it, your view is an asphalt parking lot with twenty suv's hiding the newly planted tree thats being choked by a lack of space. My wife and I were lured to this new american nirvana, but we could only take for 3 years before we moved back to the run down city. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terry_rory Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 Actually the truly nasty (Orwellian) place is nearby (Max, Bee) at a place called Leighton Buzzard. Hundreds of little 1980s corporate yuppy nesting boxes with "Mondeo man & woman" in total control of how far one can express oneself. "The Birch tree close residents committee have decided that your yellow garage door is offensive and you are politely requested to re-paint it a more sobre colour. Thank you." OK I made that up but I spent a fair amount of time in Leighton Buzzard (my wifes sister lived there) and it was a curtain twitching hell of conformity that was screaming out for Martin Parr to come and prick it's mean minded little bubble. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terry_rory Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 Bee, you must have 'got' the same vibe in some of those Dutch suburbs on your website. They looked like hell as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terry_rory Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 I guess I am going to be in trouble again (like yesterday) for 'Snobbery' or somesuch, but I don't care. The world must know how awful Leighton Buzzard is! I think Rocinha (as depicted in Brazilian TV series City of Men) looks far more attractive! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob_shop Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 I know someone in MK who says they have to change their left tyres twice as often as their right ones because of the sheer number of the roundabouts. I once drove from Bedford to MK station and counted 27. And that's... what... a 25 minute trip? Half an hour? A roundabout a minute. Craziness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
graham_line Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 Passed up a chance several years ago for a day-long tour of MK with a very enthusiastic urban planning type. It was a tightly-scheduled trip, but I've been kicking myself ever since. The Peace Park was to be the highlight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beatrice_flowers Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 Heh...:-) Trevor, well I sure love to bitch about those Dutch burbs, but Orwellian seems a bit strong, not? Somehow I think of a more Corbusierian type of (forced) conformity when people throw '1984' at me as a descriptive term. In other words, when I hear that, I think of my own backyard, <a href=http://beeflowers.com/megastructure/photo1/pages/18.htm> <b> Moscow </b> </a>. Most countries have such buildings, though, so I was quite sincere asking where the pics with the *real* awfulness were... Surely you Brits could be worse off than shown on those pics, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terry_rory Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 It all lies in the conditioning of the mind and the deliberate shaping of the built environment to accomodate the Car and not the the person. Cities, market towns, villages all grew up organically around features that brought people together in various ways. (Ports, rivers, valleys, higher ground safe from flood, drovers roads and so on) The Garden City movement at the turn of the 1900s was the start of a noble attempt to bring light, air, trees, gardens to people who had only known 'back to back' slums. It was social engineering but of a benign variety and shaped to fit the human scale. Milton Keynes was designed from scratch in the 1950s and 60s more to the needs of the car than the dwellers. Try walking around Milton Keynes and it is a depressing experience because nothing was designed to be reached easily by foot. Milton Keynes was a cynical exercise in forcing people to fit to an environment and lifestyle rather than making an environment that fits people. Milton Keynes was an 'Orwellian' enterprise because it was designed to make you 'know your place' in the architects and planners vision. An example is the way pedestrians have to follow circuitous paths that double the distance walked between A and B whereas the car can go in a straight line. Car always go on overpasses over the pedestrian tunnels as if to ram it home just where the planners placed the Car in the heirarchy of needs. (It may be a pain, as a driver, to have to stop at crossings for pedestrians but it re-inforces that the 'system' is there for people not just vehicles in a suburb) I prefer (on the whole) haphazard architecture that has evolved rather than been planned by Big Brother. It may end up messier and untidier and less 'efficient' but it is more recognisably 'of people' and for people than the brutalistic (as opposed to Brutalism which derives from 'Beton Brut' a form of concrete that Corbusier loved) monolithic, computer optimised corporate architecture endured nowadays. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charles_stobbs3 Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 Do you need bread crumbs to find yout way back home from the pub? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 Fwiw i lived in Southern California.The areas of Irvine seemed like paradise till you were closer.There were no real parks.The green shrubbery was not grass but some Alien green growth that forbade bare feet.True all colors used were of same brown hues.The residents were allowed to fly flags for Christmas, Easter or July 1, provided they were all approved first.All the flags were the same.Even McDonalds, Burger King had to have signs on street level no higher than 6 feet. The Cathedral nearby had no Cross on the roof or walls.I guess it helped me to return to lovely-do-your-own-thing Toronto downtown.The 'Burbs here are the same as MK or Orange County. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
max_fun Posted January 3, 2005 Author Share Posted January 3, 2005 Ooops, looks like my link wasn't working... here's the link again <a href="http://www.pbase.com/supperman/milton_keynes">http://www.pbase.com/supperman/milton_keynes</a> <p> Anyway, I don't necessarily think that MK is totally soulless. I feel that the heart of a city really is the people. I've met a few people in the city and they were really nice and friendly. I believe that the human spirit is that it can thrive even in the most dire of situations, and I believe that this goes for MK as well. <p> <a><img src="http://www.pbase.com/supperman/image/38086212.jpg"></a> <br> A shot of MK kids at play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_dilenardo Posted January 3, 2005 Share Posted January 3, 2005 mmm i went there on a school geography trip when i was 12(i live in derbyshire) and even at that young age the whole experience pure spun my mind. ended up getting lost in that shopping centre as it all looks exactly the same wherever you stand inside it. i believe they once had (or still do) fibreglass cows dotted around to give it a more rural flavour! bizarre! ps dont own a leica but got a 60s fed 2 a 1957 zorki 4 and waiting for a kiev to arrive. do i qualify to post here?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frederick_muller Posted January 3, 2005 Share Posted January 3, 2005 Bletchley Park, the British WWII code-breaking facility, is located just outside Milton Keynes. For the more technically minded amongst us, it can be a worthwhile excursion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
watts Posted January 3, 2005 Share Posted January 3, 2005 <i>it was a curtain twitching hell of conformity that was screaming out for Martin Parr to come and prick it's mean minded little bubble.</i><br><br>I'm not sure who are the more mean minded? The curtain twitchers of Leighton Buzzard or those who seem to spend much of their time on this forum making sneering generalisations about various socio-economic groups that don't seem to fit in with their own smug view of the world. Taking the piss is one thing (especially if it is funny) but the predictable (and very unimaginative) rants of the last few days are getting a bit tiresome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason Posted January 3, 2005 Share Posted January 3, 2005 I guess we all know where the last post came from! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
watts Posted January 4, 2005 Share Posted January 4, 2005 You'd be wrong. I'm not sure I've ever even been to Leighton Buzzard (though I have been to plenty of places like it). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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