Imagine you are driving into a small town somewhere in the UK. As you approach the outskirts, where the edge of town meets the surrounding countryside, you see the signs of a new, residential development. Advertising flags are flying beside a hoarding announcing the imminent arrival of new two, three and four bed houses.

It’s a familiar scene and it is easy to visualise the outcome even before anything has been built. The houses will form a gaggle of individual brick boxes, slightly varied in size and orientation and separated by strips of lawn and timber fencing. They will be arranged along a new road that will wriggle through the site in a loop. Sometimes an effort will have been made to add variety to the units via vernacular details or patches of timber cladding, but the recipe is essentially always the same.

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