Townscape as a Methodology of Modernity: The Plans and Practice of Thomas Sharp

Abstract

This chapter focuses upon the work of Thomas Sharp, a mid-twentieth century British planner, and his role in the development of ideas of townscape. A figure often marginalised in the historiography of the topic, Sharp’s use of townscape was to advocate for a methodology of planning that is both historically informed and historically sensitive, but which remained distinctly modern in outlook and purpose. His work was given an enormous stimulus by the Second World War and the mobilisation to plan for its aftermath. Whilst Sharp did not consider himself to be a preservationist, his most significant commissions were for historic cities and were influential in the development of conservation practice. The chapter considers how Sharp’s formulation of townscape developed in a series of plans he produced for the historic cities of Durham, Exeter, and Oxford in the mid-1940s. It then discusses his continuing involvement in Durham and Oxford in subsequent decades, and the continuing importance of the idea of townscape in his work, often expressed through his opposition to the plans and proposals of others, as well as a late commission in his career, for the city of Cambridge. Sharp had a lasting influence on the cities in which he worked and his ideas exerted a significant and long-lasting impact on methodologies of planning, which helped temper the degree and form of redevelopment across the UK.