ABSTRACT
In terms of housing policy, the impact of World War II was similar to that of World War I. Again an era of private house building was replaced by an era from 1945 to the 1950s where council house building predominated. In terms of town planning, however, the difference in practice was substantial. By the 1940s, town planning offered a comprehensive vision, or what later critics (Hall et al. 1973, 45; Taylor 1998, 3-19) would call a comprehensive ‘blueprint,’ of the future. Small-scale blueprint plans had existed since at least the rst exercises in planned estate development, before 1919. Indeed, as a method of design, blueprints have a much longer history. In contrast, the preparation of a comprehensive blueprint of a large city had seldom, if ever been attempted before.
