jonestheplanner.co.uk
Jones the planner: Stockport, Cheshire
http://www.jonestheplanner.co.uk/2015/05/stockport-cheshire.html
An ancient market town. The old view – Hillgate. The view everybody knows – Wellington Road. The 1840s and the 1970s. The spectacular and the banal. Stockport Station – the dispiriting welcome. The Mersey: could be a more spectacular farewell. A heritage and community success story. Is not really doing it. The Merseyway Centre opens up. Bridging Stockport – continuing the tradition. A street in the sky (and a nice old department store below). Form, grid and tessellation. Plugged in to the old fabric.
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Jones the planner: High Speed 2 Nowhere
http://www.jonestheplanner.co.uk/2013/04/high-speed-2-nowhere_21.html
High Speed 2 Nowhere. Bend an ear and listen to my version.". So I am not romantic about railways, but I do think they would be a good idea if run as a public service, as does everyone on the left/green spectrum. St Pancras - made in Nottingham (the bricks). However HS2 is not a good idea; in fact it is a catastrophically bad idea and a fatal distraction from what really needs to be done to improve our railway system. I have always been suspicious of grands projets. Toton Marshalling yard - the site of t...
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Jones the planner: Bristol Fashion
http://www.jonestheplanner.co.uk/2013/07/bristol-fashion.html
Unremittingly bad - petrol junky Bristol. Park St, on the must-see townscape list. Bristol Byzantine. This should be a cue for an Amsterdam School. Where City bankers catch their taxi. Welcome to. phft! That's better, Welcome to Bristol. The bombed out City Centre - a ghost of its past. Very good: where the castle used to be. This was a regional bank you know (Corn Street). Urbane: St Nicholas Markets. Vincent Harris certainly got around. If only Raddisson really did disappear. Stay in your box. Somethin...
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Jones the planner: Bradford Impresses
http://www.jonestheplanner.co.uk/2015/04/bradford-impresses.html
Bradford impresses. Here, unexpectedly and nestling in the most glorious countryside, is one of the grandest and most distinctive of English cities, a city of fine honey coloured sandstone buildings, thrilling views and exciting juxtapositions. This may not be the usual take on a city coruscated for economic decline and social problems, one of Gavin Stamp’s ‘Lost Cities’ willfully vandalised by planning, but prepare to be surprised. Bradford: good at corners and chimneys – Kirkgate. Fun on North Parade.
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Jones the planner: Naples Funiculi, Funicula
http://www.jonestheplanner.co.uk/2013/06/naples-funiculi-funicula.html
Naples Funiculi, Funicula. Cities alien to one another can share similar circumstances. On the street where we lived, scooter eye view. Archaeology comes to life at the Museo. Nottingham alabaster has pride of place in Capodimonte. One hell of an explosion. Next to San Carlo which is open 24/7, raggazi playing football in it at midnight. Now that is inconceivable in England. A direct line from the power dressing of the Gesu. To the justice of the 1946 republic. Circumvesuviana station makes no compromises.
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Jones the planner: Berlin, Baugruppen & Mental Walls
http://www.jonestheplanner.co.uk/2014/05/berlin-baugruppen-mental-walls.html
Berlin, Baugruppen and Mental Walls. Will we survive the impending anniversary of World War One? Can I stand any more of Michael Gove’s lectures on patriotism, Dan Snow poncing about in old army uniforms, VAD romances on the telly and Niall Ferguson’s flights of historical fancy? The end of history at Potsdamer Platz (it's a bit empty). Radio HQ from the the Weimar years (a Maccreanor Lavington favourite). The generous infrastructure - new Hauptbahnhof. Prenzlauer Berg - gentrification central. Like fund...
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Jones the planner: Sheffield: This is Hardcore
http://www.jonestheplanner.co.uk/2014/08/sheffield-this-is-hardcore.html
Sheffield: This is Hardcore. Sheffield is heroic. It’s like a boxer struggling back to his feet after a series of knock-down blows; down but not out. Sheffield is masculine, raw and powerful. But it is Pittsburg, not Detroit, still optimistic that its past, improbable, greatness can be rekindled. And it is often wrong-headed about how to do this. Takes your breath away. An ungracious but entertaining city centre. Georgian townscape plunging down the Don Valley. A post war pub. Arundel Gate welcomes you.
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Jones the planner: Manchester Metropolis
http://www.jonestheplanner.co.uk/2015/03/manchester-metropolis.html
The Alchemist’s Elements, Hans Tisdall. Mancunian Way barriers, literal, psychological and metaphorical. Fifty shades of private bus livery. Nice trams - shame about the street kit. Is this Piccadilly Gardens, mate? Not competing with Sheffield, never mind Barcelona. This is not working – Piccadilly Gardens. Poor attention to detail. Those New York loft apartments as imagined by Tony Wilson. Creativity without Media City. Impressive townscape – The Northern Quarter. Infinitely preferable to Salford Quays.
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Jones the planner: Wakefield, West Riding
http://www.jonestheplanner.co.uk/2014/09/wakefield-west-riding.html
Wakefield, West Riding. There is a lot to like about Wakefield and a lot to admire, but a visit there will also make you despair about the impotence of planning and architecture in the face of the unbridled power of over-mighty business to dictate the future of our cities. The Hepworth Gallery and thoughtful renovation such as Crown Court may give you hope but by the malls of the recently-built Trinity Walk shopping centre you sit down and weep. A smart new station. Well planned but poor finish. It is a ...
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Jones the planner: Hull: City of Culture
http://www.jonestheplanner.co.uk/2014/02/hull-city-of-culture.html
Hull: City of Culture. So, Hull – City of Culture 2017 - Cinderella shall go to the ball. Hull, forever propping up the league tables of social and economic failures (the latest for ‘inner city urban vibrancy’ - see Ian Martin’s coruscating take on this here. Arctic Corsair, the River Hull and the Clarence Flour Mill. Postwar planning on Jameson St. And the sheer expanse of the River Humber. This is concrete - the Humber Bridge. Hull certainly does "grand" very well. Is set in the grand Italianate job ne...
