Understanding Milton Keynes (1/2)

Much like The Open University, its home Milton Keynes took a less than conventional approach to existing norms when it was designed.
Very few places in England elicit the type of response that you might get when you mention the words Milton Keynes, like the Royal family the very existence of Milton Keynes is considered contentious and many people have very strong opinions about whether it should exist at all.
For some the idea that a group of town planners could create a purposed built city over the course of a few decades that hasn’t evolved over hundreds of years feels unnatural and even borders on blasphemous.
But in a country where the government is struggling to manage an ever-increasing population could the ideas behind Milton Keynes be more important than ever before.
To mark the 50th anniversary of Milton Keynes The Open University has made the documentary; Understanding Milton Keynes, a film that aims to deconstruct many of the myths that exist about the city and offer a thorough examination of the ideas, history and development of Milton Keynes divided into various sections, each one looking at a distinctively different facet of the city.
The videos explore everything from the sociological ideas behind the development of Milton Keynes, through to its commitment to public art and how organisations like The Parks Trust provide a unique model for maintaining green spaces
Drone Footage supplied by Sky Cam Productions
www.skycamproductions.co.uk
(Part 1 of 2)
Playlist link - • Understanding Milton K...
Transcript - media-podcast.open.ac.uk/feed...
Learn more about MK from The Open University
Understanding MK hub
www.open.edu/openlearn/society...
Study a free course on Smart Cities
www.open.edu/openlearn/science...
The Open University is the world’s leading provider of flexible, high quality online degrees and distance learning, serving students across the globe with highly respected degree qualifications, and the triple accredited MBA. The OU teaches through its own unique method of distance learning, called ‘supported open learning’ and you do not need any formal qualifications to study with us, just commitment and a desire to find out what you are capable of.
---
Follow us on Twitter: / oufreelearning

[@mauimango1964]

I am an architect who just returned from a visit to Milton Keynes. I enjoyed the green trails along Ouzel Valley Park but found the central urban area sad, alienating and too focused around cars. It reminds me of sprawling American suburbs and their love affair with the automobile. Milton Keynes has great landscape features but needs extensive re-planning of the built environment to make it fit for human habitation.

[@brianamyes6871]

Living in an estate within the central 'urban' area (and having done so for 20 years), my suspicion is that your guide showed you that area by car. One of the reasons that Milton Keynes is so compelling is that pedestrian traffic is removed from motor traffic. It is true that the central areas have been developed towards the needs of the largest commercial interests, but it was always a place designed to bring in outsiders, and is the natural funnel for all of the out of town traffic - rail, motorway, and main arterial trunk roads. Yet I can walk out of my front door, 8 minutes later walk into the shopping centre and see hardly any moving vehicles at all, while experiencing wildlife, green spaces and trees by the hundred. Along with other pedestrians going about enjoying their day. This is without needing to take the extra 5 minutes to journey alongside the extensive city park. Most of the problems of Milton Keynes seem to be is where the initial overall vision has bee lost. Parts of the commercial centre have been developed against guiding principles. Some newer estates have given up the grid road framework. Public transportation has moved from a public good to a commercial operation. Cyclists are encouraged to use the roads rather than the cycleways that were designed for them. Lack of housing investment after Right To Buy (enforced centrally) has led to our central estates to become full of houses of multiple occupation. Milton Keynes does have problems of its own design. Housing tends to atrophy as the money, instead of investing in its own property moves out to the next brand new estate, meaning some of the estates that were designed with some very interesting concepts haven't been maintained effectively, but I love this town. I can choose how I move about, and I move about effectively, I'm surrounded by nature, and there's very little pollution.

[@georgedowns4034]

I think u have ur priorities messed up there.

[@scottmitchell4950]

Born in MK in 76, 43 years old and homeless and still can’t get a council house. MK has gone downhill ever since we lost the development corporation

[@andyc6542]

Sorry to hear Scott, but why have you found yourself homeless? What circumstances have arisen in your life that mean you’re without a home? If you’re a hard worker, and always have been then I sympathise with you. I have no sympathy for those given housing who offer nothing back to society however.

[@aquilarossa5191]

I was born in NZ but grew up in Milton Keynes. We moved to back NZ in 1985. I ended up with a Kiwi passport instead of British. I love NZ, but still feel like Milton Keynes is where I am from and miss it at times.

[@MrAllen-fv9cj]

Milton Keynes is also known for a legendary Queen concert that took place at the Bowl in the summer of 1982.

[@vinaymulukutla358]

I was born that year but I grew up to become a fan of Queen and ultimately lived not far from the Bowl. I saw Metallica there in 1999. I wish the Bowl would host more concerts, it's been abandoned for ages.

[@lukewiseman9946]

This is great stuff. If there is a sort of 'meta-lesson' to be taken from it, it is that: "If there is a really great, bold idea, DO NOT interfere with it". Milton Keynes has not, according to this film and its sequel (part 2), remained true to the original vision. Politics and money got in the way. What would the place have been like without such interference?

[@jamieallen8867]

i know Im quite off topic but does anyone know of a good site to stream newly released tv shows online?

[@haydenjeremy6448]

@Jamie Allen Try FlixZone. Just google for it :)

[@daydays12]

It was designed as an American car centric town based on corporations earning ££££££ in commercial centres/malls/ McDonalds style places plus office blocks. No concern for anything else. Do these 'planners' live there?

[@simongreenidge6454]

In order to get permission to build new estates the developers should have been forced to follow the original plan and grid road template. Also the newer developments (say within the past 12 years) do not properly recognise that the average MK family owns 2 or 3 cars and the owners will park those car as close to their house's front door as they can. Try cycling around some of these estates on the weekend and you will find that the place is a tangled mess of cars parked on pavements, blocking 'red ways' etc. Visit the older estates (with 2 decent parking bays close to the owners' front door) and you will find that the situation is much better.

[@stevegoodson9022]

Also the older estates are mostly inhabited by the poorer residents, with an average (mode) of zero cars, even on Fishermead, where the houses have a carport as well as a driveway and offroad parking, it's common to see the carport converted to an extra room, or used for storing miscellaneous junk. The new developments which went up while I was living there were all huge monolithic blocks of 'prestige' flats intended for wealthy and highly profitable commuters, while the proportion of affordable 'social' housing continues to decline, and the homelessness problem slowly worsens. I suffered a stroke in 2017 and when I left hospital I had to move back into my completely unsuitable and dangerous first floor flat. After two years of trying to get suitable accomodation I was forced to move to Bradford, there was simply no suitable accomodation available in MK, and the council told me to expect at least a five year wait before I would be rehoused. The original plan has been completely abandoned, and all new development is entirely profit focused. There are very credible rumours of rampant corruption within the local council, and the poor continue to live in run-down 'temporary' estates which were built to house the original workers in the 70's, and earmarked for redevelopment which never happened.

[@daydays12]

Good to read some reality.

[@PsyopAgentProvocateur]

I’m actually Australian. But I’m aware of the location because of the Council videos where staff bullied a photographer and Deborah Carr (?) Lied about processing a complaint and then investigated and cleared herself of misconduct. The video is horrific. As I said, I’m not even from the UK, and the video of the councils conduct on a couple of videos have stuck with me. There are videos of people filming police there also, the Police are unprofessional and rude, they escalate and are condescending. The city has a terrible reputation if you search it on KZbin. The people seem lovely, but the council and police seem horrendous. Do a KZbin search for Council visit videos. I’d never live there.

[@daydays12]

I agree with you. I've seen those videos too.

[@monarchist1838]

I wish this came up before my ema

[@PaulBaird]

It's worth contrasting the planned development of the new town model against the piecemeal development models of house building companies, who don't seem to look outside of the boundaries of the individual housing estate. The number that are built nowadays with no provision for local schools, medical centres and shops, or how that estate interacts with the wider community is almost criminal.

[@daydays12]

MK just seems like a collection of camps , with exactly as you write, no provision for local schools, medical centres and shops, no possibility for community interaction...

[@fabianrares]

No social housing, the council was clear enough, that is not the kind of people they want to attract. They want young, strong, educated people with well-paid jobs and tax payers. It is what they said...

[@LeeGriggs]

This would have been better with more footage and plans of Milton Keynes instead of an hour of boring old men yacking on and on. Where were the red balloons for example?

[@daydays12]

Boring old men yackingon and on who don't live in MK is right.

[@mkkravist11]

Oh, and further to that, there’s no place in MK that you can’t hear the loud continual drone of dual carriageway’s or the A5 & M1. Even the country parks aren’t immune from that noise. Cars & motorbikes racing between roundabouts with no Police is a nightmare, as is poor air quality.

[@daydays12]

So good the read the truth. Thank you. The boring old men responsible on the video say nothing about that.

[@stevegoodson9022]

Should be roundabouts, concrete cows, homelesness, drug addiction and gang violence. And semi-derelict council estates built in the 70's, with all available land being sold to private developers to build expensive 'prestige' housing for wealthy commuters, which the poor and homeless won't ever get close to.

[@georgedowns4034]

It cannot be perfect ya know

[@daydays12]

Thank you. The boring old men responsible on the video say nothing about that.

[@Sophiebryson510]

R O U N D A B O U T (i mean i love milton keynes)

[@daydays12]

ROUNDABOUTS for CARS. Not a tram or light railway in site. Pollution and noise from cars... American grid layout.

[@Loves_life_84]

I get the same people look very odd at me when I live in Mk

[@sophiapond1257]

I came to Milton Keynes due to my Father applied for a clergy post in one of the ecumenical parishes. We as a family came in 1985. never liked the place from then on in. I did not want to come, but I had no choice in the matter. I am in the throws of getting out of Milton Keynes when I get enough finances together to do it. Never will call this dirt bag place home at all, as I prefer countryside on my doorstep instead of using public transportation.

[@daydays12]

Exactly. I wish you success in getting out.

[@stevegoodson9022]

I think in the late 70's with the rise of conservatism and 'no such thing as society' the original plan was seen as an obsolete relic, and since then the plan has changed, with milton keynes becoming a satellite town for wealthy commuters who work in london. The point about city streets is well made, there were hundreds of speed bumps on all the roads within estates, and bus drivers were having to leave work after developing severe back problems from driving over speed bumps all day. It's virtually impossible to live there without a car - the redways seen like a good idea, but all that pretty landscaping and poor lighting provide plenty of cover for rapists and muggers. I doubt that any of the people presenting this video spend much time walking the redways, particularly near the more run-down estates. For example, if you live on Fishermead, right next to the city centre, walking to the city centre shops and back on the redways is a great way to get mugged. Willen Lake is indeed beautiful, and when I had a car I visited often. When I became disabled and could no longer drive it became impossible to get there. The bus service is great in theory, but it's very poorly run and it's common fot buses to run 45 minutes late, or to turn up at the same time as the next scheduled bus. I've been on buses in MK where the driver had to ask the passengers for directions, and they drove so dangerously that all the passengers were visibly (and vocally) terrified. While I was working as a programmer in MK, I had co-workers who relied on the bus service to get to work, and were consistently late through no fault of their own. Perhaps the monorail would have improved things, but as far as the current authorities are concerned, if you don't have your own transport you're not worth worrying about. As far as cycling goes, if you're physically fit and able enough to cycle 10 mile round trips across the city, on the steep hills created by those 'landscaping' mounds, all is well, but if you're disabled or unfit. or you need to carry heavy shopping etc., you'd better have a friend with a car to help out. I should know, having been that friend with a car for many people for many years until I lost the ability to drive.

[@georgedowns4034]

Yeah but every large town has its run down areas...

[@daydays12]

Thank you. Very good to read the truth.. rather than the nasty fantasies of this boring old men on the video. I sympathise with you.

[@boertieme]

Katy I'm in love with u

[@andyc6542]

You’re a little bit creepy pal...

[@crickcrot]

I lived in Milton Keynes it's soulless humans created places to to live by need not artificial places to exist in no soul system housing created by bureaucrats.

[@georgedowns4034]

Absoloute lie

[@georgedowns4034]

Can't answer? Clearly I'm right.

[@crickcrot]

@@georgedowns4034 Milton Keynes has no end of social problems and a lot of the houses are crap.

[@georgedowns4034]

@@crickcrot that's the same with every large place! It's not gonna be perfect is it?

[@georgedowns4034]

But it is such a unique place as well

[@bargainwallart653]

Obviously the new town is a mess....shame on all.