New visions for suburbia: Reassessing aesthetics and place-making in modernism, imageability and New Urbanism

This paper explores three controversial and large-scale attempts by architects to build more attractive suburban areas: Cumbernauld in Scotland (key designs constructed in the 1950s and 1960s), Irvine in California (key designs from the 1960s and 1970s onward), and Poundbury in England (key designs created in the 1980s and built from the 1990s on). They represent major approaches to the issue of aesthetics and place-modernism, humanistic imageability and legibility, and new urbanism or the Urban Villages Movement. The paper distinguishes between several terms relevant in assessing visual character: objective aesthetics, style, place and satisfaction. It is argued that all three developments conform to some principles of the visual and psychological aspects of good design; but these principles differ, resulting in criticisms from those promoting different styles.