New Town Utopia

The story of Basildon... a UK "new town". Created to get people out of the wretched post-WW2 slums of London. It's a story that moves from good intentions (fresh air, light, new homes) to neglect and decay. It does take a frustrating detour into claiming that people buying council houses was bad... and before that happened it was a socialist heaven with all classes living mixed together and somehow art will fix the world's problems. But for the most part it's an interesting record of Basildon's rise and fall. You can't help feeling that lots of the original building work was the result of the architect's 'vision' rather than actual human need - basically 'Brutalism' in a nut shell. Still... if you want to judge Basildon you have to remember where that story began. In the slums of East London. People crammed together, disease, decay, stench and poverty. Utopia is beyond reach, but Basildon was an improvement.