Briefing: Cities beautiful Available to Purchase

In the city of York a small team of urbanists – architects, economists and engineers – has been working to advise the City of York Council on a twin-thrust programme to (a) create a long-term economic vision for the city and (b) grow the vision with city officers through a skills development programme. ‘York new city beautiful – toward an economic vision’ was published in September 2010 and received enthusiastic support from the City of York Council and the city’s business and community leadership. The last such exercise in forward planning for the city of York was the Esher plan (1969) – a study in conservation, when Bath, Chester, Chichester and York were the subject of the government-driven ‘Four towns study’. This next visionary plan-making exercise is a major opportunity for York. The City of York Council recognises that quality of place matters to businesses making decisions about where to locate and invest; to residents as a living place and a place to live; and to the visitor – to enjoy, to learn, to invest and to come back. The following sets out the programme and its engagement across the community, describes the early twentieth century ‘City beautiful’ programme in Chicago, which inspired the work, and concludes with a broad description of the proposals made to the city of York.