Studies of local open space in British housing

• Main Author: Byrom, J. B.
• Published: University of Edinburgh 1976
• Subjects: 363.5
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.642287

This study of local open space in British housing since 1800 takes the form of a sequence of essays. The subject is treated selectively but in historical sequence, and concentrates on topics hitherto neglected. Two themes recur: the first concerns the justification for providing urban open space, and the second the grouping of housing around shared local open space. The introductory essay shows how the justification for providing urban open spaces in Britain during the Nineteenth Centry was greatly affected by the inadequacies of local government. The following chapter reviews the extent to which open space was looked upon as a purely sanitary investment until medical science had discounted a number of misconceptions and demonstrated the value of recreation and outdoor exercise. Succeeding chapters examine some early attempts to provide local open space at least in part for motives of recreation (notably chapter 5), while chapters 6, 7 and 8 deal with different aspects of acceptance of the need for local open space and, in particular, the need to escape from the city and re-establish contact with Nature and the simple rural life, or its semblance. The second theme of study is introduced in chapter 3, which looks at early attempts to associate shared open space with the parallelogram, and how this form was abused in the Scots tenement. The following chapters review the essential differences between the Scots tenement and English cottage, the general preference for the latter, and the influence of the English village green on the provision and treatment of shared local open space in present day housing. Chapters 9 and 10 consider in detail the problems concerned with providing and managing such space. The final chapter reaches a number of general conclusions on the two themes of study.