Britain’s new suburbs are peculiar places
They resemble neither American suburbs nor older British ones
THE SOUNDTRACK to life on the outskirts of Aylesbury, a town in south-east England, consists of drilling and the beeping of reversing lorries. Fences, scaffolding and piles of earth dot the landscape. Workers in hi-vis vests are turning farmers’ fields into suburban developments of a few hundred or a few thousand homes. New roads appear frequently, perplexing any satnav that has not been scrupulously kept up to date.
This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “On the frontier”
Britain December 11th 2021
- Behind the chaos and scandal of Boris Johnson’s government lies stasis
- A court bashes Uber into compliance—again
- For the clinically vulnerable, “Freedom Day” has yet to arrive
- Britain is liberalising its listing rules to revive its battered bourse
- Nostalgia and the profit motive have created a market in old phone kiosks
- The robots are gathering to help beat Britain’s supply-chain shortages
- Britain’s new suburbs are peculiar places
From the December 11th 2021 edition
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