Stevenage

Stevenage Synopsis

This is Volume XIX in a series of twenty-two on Race, Class and Social Structure. Originally published in 1952. In November 1946, the British Government founded the New Town of Stevenage, thirty miles north of London, as part of a long-term programme to move over a million people from the metropolis. This book tells the story of this New Town: the history of the decentralization policy, of the existing town of old Stevenage, and of the first four years of the new development; the sociology of the New Town plan and of the strong local opposition which aroused nation-wide interest and led to a court case that almost stopped the project; the nature of the Development Corporation established to plan and build the New Town and the difficulties experienced in its relations with other Government departments and the Stevenage District Council. The book is, therefore, an historical and sociological study of a pioneering Government venture and of its impact upon a small town. It represents the results of interviewing, observation, and documentary research conducted over an eighteen-month period from October 1948.