Milton Keynes - Europan 9 site

Opportunities and challenges

This project for the expansion of Milton Keynes is important in setting the standard of urban design for future development. As it grows, the city must not only retain its unique identity but must use the opportunity this growth provides to evolve. In a city that was designed for the car, promoting more sustainable development and increasing the use of public transport is a huge challenge.

The vision for the Western Expansion Area is to create a sustainable community that is a desirable place to live, work, learn and spend leisure time and is well integrated. The aim of this project is to provide a development that has an appealing sense of identity, with a variety of house types and densities structured around a high quality public transport spine.

New housing should have a contemporary character. The layout of development should be highly legible, complement the high quality of landscape design typical to Milton Keynes and exemplify established urban design principles. The integration of a school and good access to public transport provides scope to create a community with a range of social and economic opportunity.

City Context

Milton Keynes was planned in the late 1960s and took up an area of gently undulating farm land integrating three existing towns and ten villages. Over thirty years Milton Keynes has established an identity and gradually gained social and cultural capacity to meet the needs of its citizens.

The expansion sites take the boundary of the city out into green fields creating a new edge. The Western Expansion Area will be the size of a small town providing 6,000 homes by 2011. The study and project sites are located in a wider masterplan for this area.