What's The Point?
The Point, carchitecture and a sound installation
Hello. I like your hat. Been a busy old time here in the Milton Keynes mothership. I seem to have four books on the go at the moment, so apologies for the slight wonkiness of this update. The first out of the blocks will be ‘Tales of the Suburbs’, my book on LGBTQ+ people in suburbia, out next March, and I’ve just finshed copy edits on that, looking forward to seeing page layouts and a book jacket next….
I’m also rushing about doing events, making podcasts and generally being a bit of a nuisance, so this newsletter is a quickie to preview a couple of interesting looking new books, and to let you know about a few things I’m involved with – a walk, a creative writing workshop and a sound installation. Also coming this autumn as part of the Open House programme I’ll be doing walks of Milton Keynes and Croydon - will post about those later, when tickets are available.\
In the meantime, I’m mainly pissed off about the planning consent given to the demolition of The Point in Milton Keynes, BDP’s Pompidou-inspired high-tech landmark, to be replaced with some uninspiring flats by Galliard Homes. Given that MK is already one of the top five expanding places in the UK, and still has an abundance of building sites all over the city, there is no need for this one small plot to be turned into flats, and there’s certainly no need to demolish the people of MK’s favourite local building. The council have suddenly woken up about it, so here’s hoping this won’t come to pass.
Housing Drive
Christopher Beanland’s Architecture for Cars (Batsford, £30) is a gloriously illustrated journey around some of the world’s great carchitecture. From the Fiat building to Berlin’s Bierpinsel, the Faroe Island tunnels to Tel Aviv bus station, here are potted biographies of remarkable things, taking us back to the invention of the car through to schemes that look ahead to our motoring future.
As well as Beanland’s own eye-opening essays, he’s joined by contributors such as Dr Dawn Pereira on Croydon, Mary Keating on Birmingham and Chris Marshall of roads.org.uk on Britain’s most interesting road engineering. A few pages in and the beautiful images alone will have you humming Autobahn and wishing for the pleasures of the open road.
Architect Paul Karakusevic and writer and guide Mike Althorpe (who you may know as The London Ambler, and also as the first guest on Monstrosities Mon Amour, more on him below) have collaborated on a remarkable book, Dual Cities (RIBA, £45). The book compares social housing in London and New York, through examples of specific new and historic buildings and estates, with a fascinating mixture of timelines, stats, essays and maps.
As both cities face a housing crisis caused by affordability and lack of construction, this book delves into the causes and solutions to these social housing woes. With contributions from the likes of John Boughton, David Madden, Helen Garett and Kath Scanlon, this is a book packed with detail and hope, exploring one of the biggest issues in housing today and providing multiple different solutions and reasons for optimism, that should help anyone tackling this area learn from the experience of two great world cities.
FInd both books here.
Talks, walks and, of course, installations
Thrilled to bits to be part of a sound installation, ‘Canopy: 24 ideas about trees’ by Lorna Rees, who has collaborated with ecologists, artists, folk musicians, writers, and children. It’s based in the National Memorial Arboretum in Alrewas, a village near Lichfield, Staffordshire. My contribution is to have written a piece on urban trees, and it has the coolest soundtrack thanks to Rufus Rees Coshan (I get to play out my fantasy of being Alan Bennett in Joy Division) which you can hear in one of 24 listening pods en route in the forest. The installation is up 19 July-31 August. More information here.
Writing the City: Creative Non-Fiction Workshop in Milton Keynes
Are you an MK local? Then you could sign up for this free workshop I’m running. As part of MK Lit Fest’s new project, Raising Voices, they’re running three workshops in centre:mk this summer for anyone aged 16+ to write about the city. Do you enjoy observing and writing about places – be they your everyday surroundings or somewhere new and exciting? But could you do with some advice, structure and a bit of time to really concentrate on seeing what you can really do?
Join me for an inspiring, fun and productive creative non-fiction workshop. In the session you'll get advice about different approaches to writing about place, find new ways of tackling familiar topics, and encouragement to help motivate you in your writing.
This two hour in-person workshop will include writing exercises and prompts, and you will have opportunities after the event to submit writing that it has inspired to MK Lit Fest's Raising Voices Project, which is developing an online interactive audio-visual map of people's responses to and relationships with particular locations across our home city. Book here.
Word on the Streets Walking Tour: Radical Finsbury and Clerkenwell
Explore London through its architectural and literary heritage. Mike Althorpe, the London Ambler (you know, from episode one of Mosntrosities Mon Amour) and I are your guides for a revolution-themed stroll around old Finsbury and Clerkenwell. This is a Faber Members walk, tickets here.
Looks like MK Council have indeed woken up about the Planning Inspectorate’s decision on the redevelopment of The Point. A legal challenge looks likely. Speaking as a town planner, we’ll be watching this one with interest. Thanks for latest newsletter John. Great as always .
Well that was a very informative newsletter - have booked myself on the walking tour, am planning a trip to the National Memorial Arboretum and, had I been a resident of MK, I would probably be signing myself up for the creative non-fiction workshop at this very moment...