Opinion

Architecture is ephemeral, urban design is eternal!

By 2022-05-25T05:23:00

David Rudlin_index

Most masterplans are never built but, once they are, they can last for ever – even if the name of the masterplanner is quickly forgotten, writes David Rudlin

I have just been reading Matthew Green’s excellent book Shadowlands: A Journey Through Britain’s Lost Cities and Vanished Villages. It tells the story of places such as the medieval city of Dunwich, once one of the busiest ports on the east coast that fell victim to coastal erosion in the late middle ages. 

He says in the introduction how easy it is “for cities towns and villages to fall foul of the historical process and sink into oblivion”. And yet is that true?

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