Urban Geometry

If I say "concrete cows", a very high proportion of British people will complete the word association correctly. If I say "electric sheep", I'd guess I'm likely to hear a lot more "Blade Runner" than "Milton Keynes". I have visited the cows: great fun and a perfect icon for a late 20th century entity, being famous mainly because they are famous

Word association in the opposite direction might be interesting. I say "Milton Keynes" and you say...

Hands up who said "roundabouts"!  I wonder if the people who planned a new town for a quarter of a million people - which it has indeed become - realised as they were doing it how many roundabouts they were designing in, and how many would be involved in a typical journey between two points within the city. The effect is heightened by the motorway-class quality of the dual-carriageway roads between the roundabouts, encouraging drivers to repeatedly yo-yo between maximum speed and slow/stop at the next intersection

My reaction to the town oscillates similarly between extremes. Sometimes I'm appalled by the windy concrete wasteland, the disorientation of roads that all look the same, equally lacking in character, and the concept of a town built around the needs of the motor car. Sometimes I'm impressed by the integration of roads, cycle and walking routes, the combination of green space with urban convenience, the public art and absence of grandiosity. It is a place that works on its own terms, quite unlike anywhere else I have seen in Britain, Europe or America

There really is an electric sheep sculpture. It is in the foyer of the city theatre - so full marks if you said "it's behind you", because oh yes, it is, right behind me as I took this. But I didn't see it and have only read about it since. The pictures I have seen make it look rather dull; one day I'll go back and try to do better

I have no idea why there is a dayglow orange circle in front of the car park. I do know that the columns mark the entrance to a small square named after a sheep farmer and Benefactor to the town (and probably the inspiration for the sculpture). I fear for the plane trees. If the fungal disease that is killing them southern Europe gets this far, there will be a lot more windy concrete space in the city. The best laid plans...