Milton Keynes??? Town planning genius or hell hole?

A few months later than planned. I made something completely different for MK because as a city, it is so out there. There wasn't anything that fun to do or any character about the place other than its alien origins which in turn where fascinating enough so I've made the whole video about them and trying to answer the age old question of 'has the city worked?'
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[@MTR-TLM]

The cycling in MK is brilliant. Yew would go for miles and never see a busy street. The internal part of this town, Furzton Lake, Ouse River, Willem are really lovely, when cycling.

[@rhiannondaye1263]

I moved from Birmingham to Milton Keynes for work and I actually love that I can get from one side to the other in less than 10 minutes.

[@minovictor]

One of the best things for sure. I get the fact it feels dystopian since you don’t see people when you’re in a car, but the fact every road can be a dual carriageway is amazing. Always 5-10 minutes from everywhere

[@shaunmk]

i live in MK..its brilliant for cycling, i do a lot of drone photography around mk

[@MadMathsTV]

This was awesome! I lived in MK before traveling! :D

[@jackthetrainspotter9727]

Thanks ❤

[@TonyLinden51]

I am a born and bread Londoner. When I left it was with regret. Now, if you even offered me a £5m mansion in London, I would turn it down. This is because, we, in our street have something I never had anywhere in London… neighbours… I know everyone in my street and are chatting friends with most. This spreads to a next street too. We also look out for each other. When anyone is away, we all keep an eye on their place. We also do things like water their plants. From our front door, there is a score of lovely walks. Some of those walks take me to a village mentioned in the Domesday book, the sight of twelfth century windmill (the oldest of its type in the UK), an eleventh century church, 16th century manor house, a four-hundred year old tree, the sight of an old railway, the Grand Union Canal, farm buildings of various antiquity. On that walk I can breathe in air that is so clean because of the parks and woodlands surrounding. A ten minute drive takes us to a 11th century abbey, a town so very involved in the ECW, a coaching town that has the original Cock & Ball plus several other important places, the sight of the first diesel engine, the factory that used to build the greatest British car (Aston Martin), The best University in the world (OU), many Roman and Medieval sights… and of course: Bletchley Park, one of the most important places in the world…

[@wudugast1]

The part about the original Milton Keynes village (and surrounding villages) once again reminds me of Lowfield Heath in the South East. Once a small hamlet, but most buildings razed and all residents completely displaced to make way for Gatwick Airport. The only buildings that remain are the church (which I believe is modern anyway) and the windmill from the 1700s which has been relocated to nearby Charlwood. Charlwood still stands despite the airport, and the residents actively oppose the building of a second runway

[@ThisWontEndWell]

My family have been here for almost a thousand years we came to Great Linford with the Norman invasion, I think it's unfair to constantly punish MK for not looking like a traditional town (who wants a Poundbury-style copy?) You have to applaud the guts to try something new for people to have the vision and imagine the future its hugely successful it's gone from 40,000 to 300,000 and is planned to be half a million by the time it's 80 years old (bigger than Cardiff). Milton Keynes is a can-do place it has taken risks and is one of the most productive places in the UK, it also made mistakes that at 58 are starting to be pulled down and the second era of development is starting, other places the same size have gone through many era's what was successful stayed and what failed replaced you see the progress of many hundreds of years with multiple layers that create the character people love about old places. It's a shame the government lacks the vision now to even imagine another Milton Keynes and build what they think the future will look like, the uniqueness of Milton Keynes is the fact its a vision that has been followed through by governments of all flavours instead of the half-arsed plans that are usually quickly aborted we see elsewhere.

[@PinderProductions]

I've been living in neighbouring Bedfordshire for a couple of years so have had the opportunity to visit MK a few times now. The centre gives me Washington DC vibes, yet the bike paths give me Rotterdam vibes to an extent. When my friends came to visit once they called it 'car park city'. Overall its alright for being functional, little bit too car centric but at least the cycle paths offer a relatively safe alternative which is free of traffic.

[@jackthetrainspotter9727]

Never been to DC but from pics I’ve seen it seems to include a lot of open space for nothing (like MK). It certainly is car park city (or hell hole) but cycling around is brilliant there

[@wudugast1]

Similar to Crawley, once an old town dating to Saxon times that they turned into a utopian "New Town" and ruined. Took most of the life out of it and replaced it with red brick newbuilds and a concrete high street for peak consumerism (which now no longer even serves that purpose). But there is still a remnant of the old culture and people there if you know where to look

[@jackthetrainspotter9727]

It’s like every new town. After MK, we spent some time in Hemel and visited Stevenage for a wedding and in both, you can still find the preserved original village with all the charm of an old Home Counties farming town

[@wudugast1]

@jackthetrainspotter9727 for sure, the home counties are not one big grey concrete metropolis yet!

[@Pain4yourmind]

@@jackthetrainspotter9727yet MK attracts families from all the surrounding areas, improving itself year on year. So that kind of contradicts what you’re saying because the population is growing. It’s a safe place where you can have a comfortable reasonably priced home with easy access for day-to-day living and work. You can pretty much get to 80% of the UK within two hours due to its location. Everything culturally that Milton keynes is missing you have 30 minutes on the train into London, but for me that cultural onslaught of drunks pickpockets and tramps is worse than hearing the soft drone in a few places of a road. Milton keynes in my opinion gives the best of both worlds.

[@wudugast1]

@@Pain4yourmind I wouldn't necessarily say growing population = it's getting better, if that's what you're suggesting

[@roberthudson4652]

It's like you missed the whole point of the city, no one is more than half a mile from a park, most of the estates have local businesses and a small shopping area where you walk to. You visited everything near a main road (you called them highways) but the majority of placed you do not hear traffic noise.

[@jackthetrainspotter9727]

I’d say I got the point of the city, to just be utilitarian but doing that alone doesn’t work. As for parks, Most people in cities around the world are near parks but as like in MK these are still usually small and even around Willen Lake you can always hear traffic. I was always near a highway in MK because by its design you’re never more than 500m from one and I could definitely always hear traffic despite having hearing issues.

[@paulcoveney5232]

You can walk from Wolverton to Tattenhoe via the Loughton Valley Park almost without touching a road. Over 7 miles of parkland, streams and lakes. Yes it passes under busy roads but it is a City of 300,000. There are plenty of places where you can escape road noise. I live in an estate 500m from the road and you don't really hear the main road.

[@minovictor]

@@paulcoveney5232one of my favourite things about the city. You can walk across the whole city without having to cross paths with a car

[@crypticTV]

35/50 worst town 230 330 4:05 Nothing like a slave owner starting a town 4:30 Initial plan - monorail 5:40 Redways 6:50 bus 7:20 8:00 8:18 9:12 highways 9:36 10:00 Indoor ski 10:20 over 3 story 10:50 11:55 1212 1st and biggest pogoda in western world 12:50 tree cathedral 14:50 wndmill 14:55 og MK 16:25 old church 17:55 Roman civilization - process seems to be still going tho 18:20 18:30 Alan turing 19:12 the good 21:21 Why Japan is better 23:20 Too planned out 24:30 24:45 Tram yes pls

[@grantc8353]

I recently went for a bike ride in MK. I was pleasantly surprised at the little villages and countryside. The centre is concrete city though with a lot of homeless. The train station is like a campsite. Re the roads, they were pothole free and many of the roads are dual carriageways so 70mph 👌

[@jackthetrainspotter9727]

I remember seeing all the tents, especially around the mall. It’s quite common that some of the most economically productive cities have the highest inequality and social issues. As for biking and driving, the city is perfect for both but when u consider neither really like each other 😂

[@lewis6565]

Oh wow I didnt know all these things about MK, I literally just went there for the shopping center, but recently I explored around a bit and Campbell park, although not amazing, was quite pleasant. the city center has all the amenities and a few attractions like the xcape but they just need to make it a bit less of a concrete jungle, whack in a big underground car park and pedestrianise the big flat car parks and add some trees and benches it'll make everything feel a bit less isolated and provide space for some seasonal events like summer fair and Christmas market, stuff like that

[@jackthetrainspotter9727]

Well the mall has a multi storey so just add a couple more floors to that to save the expense of tunnelling but getting rid of those endless car parks would be a delight and while your re landscaping the city centre, perfect opportunity for some tram tracks and more bus lanes so not so many car parks are needed anyway 😃

[@MichaelCarry-gj4wm]

A woman designed this city and its the worst designed city ive ever been in

[@amirhad6594]

Not gonna lie , it looks dull af. But I do like concrete cows for some reason 😊

[@jackthetrainspotter9727]

I love them too 😂🐄🐮

[@CapraObscura]

Its all sort of soviet looking 😆

[@crypticTV]

I've lived in some soviet cities and MK, the soviet ones have all been far better planned than this MK dumpster 😂😂😂😂

[@jackthetrainspotter9727]

@@crypticTV soviet cities have trams and super deep underground metros instead of endless highways 😂

[@crypticTV]

@@jackthetrainspotter9727 very true!!

[@KrashFries]

milton keynes is nothing but pure american suburban hellscape brought to britain, except with roundabouts so people can drive faster. hard pass

[@ryanoconnor4256]

So condescending! Why?? You could have just reported on MK, but you chose to speak so disrespectfully. 🤷