| Summary: | During the course of World War II, many cities in Britain and Japan were badly damaged by enemy bombers. The destruction caused terrible suffering, but also triggered hopes for a better future. Haphazard urban development in the past had bequeathed an unhappy legacy. Cities were disfigured by poor transport systems, overcrowding, lack of amenity and ugliness. Yet there was no need to repeat such mistakes. A new emphasis on rationality and aesthetics could produce very different results. The cities of the future might be places of airiness and light, of efficiency and joy, of work but also satisfying leisure. The key requirement was that reconstruction needed to be planned, because it was only the planners who had the imagination and skills to see how change should be engineered.
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