Can New Towns be joy towns?

As the UK’s New Towns Taskforce prepares to outline how the government should deliver its promised wave of new towns, brand new research commissioned by Humanise shows strong support for making them joyful, meaningful places to live.

As the UK Government prepares its final recommendations for a new generation of new towns, our research reveals a stark truth: previous eras of new towns left many residents uninspired, disconnected and disheartened by their everyday environments.

We commissioned Thinks Insights + Strategy to conduct an independent survey of 1,000 people living in England’s post-war new towns, to really understand what they think and feel about the buildings that shape their communities.

The findings show that residents are highly dissatisfied with the buildings that surround them – with only 4% of survey respondents spontaneously describing their town as “nice”.

The previous generations of new towns have left many residents uninspired, disconnected and disheartened by their everyday environments. Many describe them as “boring,” “ugly,” and “run-down”. This insight shows that most people want more than just ‘units’: they want homes and places they can feel proud of.

The public overwhelmingly backs buildings with character and visual interest, and there’s a strong desire to regenerate run-down areas into joyful, meaningful places to live.

As the New Towns Taskforce prepares its final report for the Government, we urge Commissioners to consign drab development and identikit streets to history.

Thomas Heatherwick, whose book inspired the Humanise campaign, said:

“For too long, we’ve built towns people accept but do not enjoy. The old new towns gave us roads, homes and parks – but forgot the human soul. Research shows that bland, lifeless facades wear people down. Now we have the evidence, the public support and the science to do better. The next wave of new towns must lift us up – places that spark joy, support our minds and make streets feel alive. The view from the pavement matters. Every wall should care for us, not ignore us.”

To complement the quantitative survey, we also spent time in the new town of Redditch in Worcestershire to hear the thoughts and feelings of residents living there. Watch the video

Which town would you rather live in?

To further test what residents of new towns want them to look like in future, Thinks Insight also sought responses to three imaginary streets.

Design 3 received an overwhelmingly positive response from a pilot sample of respondents, who
said it makes them “feel more valued and cared for” and described it as “not just your regular street”.

Illustrations by Heatherwick Studio. Image 1 based on a Create Streets image released by the Labour party June 2024.