To the sneerers, Milton Keynes is a soulless stretch of concrete cows and roundabouts. <\/p>\n
But the notorious new town is actually the culmination of humankinds search for Utopia, a new BBC season will claim. <\/p>\n
As a young person, I did find Milton Keynes a boring, soulless place to grow up. It was just famous for concrete cows and roundabouts Filmmaker Richard Macer <\/p>\n
A BBC4 series investigating the concept of Utopia, the blueprint for a perfect world coined by Thomas More in 1516, concludes that the visionary overspill town established 50 years ago is our closest post-war embodiment of the ideal. <\/p>\n
The centrepiece of the Utopia season, which examines the designs of architects including Frank Lloyd Wright and Norman Foster, is a documentary about Milton Keynes by Richard Macer, the filmmaker behind a revelatory BBC expose of life inside British Vogue magazine. <\/p>\n
Macer, brought up in Milton Keynes, admits he used to feel embarrassed about living in an urban experiment once dismissed as an utterly depersonalised nightmare. <\/p>\n
Returning aged 50, to move back in with his parents, as Milton Keynes celebrated its half-centenary, he now recognises the Buckinghamshire town as a prosperous tribute to enlightened social engineering. <\/p>\n
As a young person, I did find Milton Keynes a boring, soulless place to grow up. You couldnt find a decent pub. It was just famous for concrete cows and roundabouts, he told the i paper. <\/p>\n
Now I recognise the place as a proper Utopian vision, an attempt to create aspirational, perfect living spaces for people, with greenery at its heart and totally funded from the public purse. <\/p>\n
Milton Keynes, which has the highest proportion of new builds in Britain outside London, offers a model alternative to the failures of high-rise urban living exposed by the Grenfell Tower disaster. <\/p>\n
It was social engineering to achieve a positive ideal, Macer said. Its grid network was inspired by Los Angeles. <\/p>\n
They created little sustainable communities with their own schools and doctors. The founders ruled that no building should be taller than the tallest tree and every householder was given a tree to plant in their garden. Its economy is buoyant. <\/p>\n
Macer discovered threats to this utopia during filming. One councillor said they are desperate not to become a Crewe, a place people just pass through that dies. They feel Milton Keynes doesnt have cultural cache. Its not like Manchester. <\/p>\n
Macer, who has previously documented the lives of Happy Mondays frontman Shaun Ryder and Katie Price, said he hoped viewers wouldnt find an hour devoted to Milton Keynes boring. <\/p>\n
The concept of Utopia has been interpreted as a place or state of things in which everything is perfect. <\/p>\n
Cassian Harrison, BBC4 Channel Editor, said: Utopian ideals have always fascinated and inspired the human race from art and architecture movements, to genres of fiction, new experimental societies and beyond. <\/p>\n
The season of films will delve into a world of visionaries, philosophers, and genius to examine what propels us to endlessly search out ideas of perfection. <\/p>\n
It is name is adapted from the 13th century settlement Mideltone Kaynes. <\/p>\n
There are more than 20,000 parking spaces in central Milton Keynes and 130 roundabouts. <\/p>\n
Main roads are designated H or V depending on whether they run horizontally or vertically. <\/p>\n
The sculpture of concrete cows and calves was created in 1978 by Canadian artist Liz Leyh. <\/p>\n
It is home to 22m trees and shrubs, around 100 for every resident. <\/p>\n
The population of 275,000 enjoy a per capita income 47% higher than the national average. <\/p>\n
The Style Councils 1985 single Come To Milton Keynes satirised towns supposed artificiality. <\/p>\n
Around 7.5m people live within a one-hour drive of Milton Keynes. <\/p>\n
@adamsherwin10 <\/p>\n
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Want to see Thomas More's Utopia in action? Come to Milton Keynes - iNews<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" To the sneerers, Milton Keynes is a soulless stretch of concrete cows and roundabouts. But the notorious new town is actually the culmination of humankinds search for Utopia, a new BBC season will claim. Continue reading