The ambiguity of town planning: innovation or re-interpretation?

The paper questions the nature of town planning as a coherent national strategy throughout Britain at the beginning of the 20th century, by analyzing the specific case study of Portsmouth. In 1912, the city unveiled an urban improvement scheme named Curzon Howe Road. This went to replace an industrial working-class residential area that had been classified as unhygienic and 'dangerous' for the general wellbeing of the inhabitants. Having been conceived in 1910 as a direct response to the 1909 Housing and Town Planning Act, Curzon Howe Road can be regarded as being the first example of town planning in Portsmouth. This paper highlights the ambiguity of the term town planning. It also discusses how the notion of town planning in the early years of its practice in Portsmouth represents a transitional stage prior to the more design-oriented solutions of the following years.