The town of tomorrow

"Rising from London's Erith marshes in the 1960s, Thamesmead was London County Council's bold attempt to build a new town to address the city's housing shortage after the Second World War. Noted for its daring, experimental design--concrete modern terraces and blocks of flats built around a system of lakes and canals--the town received attention from architects, sociologists and politicians throughout the world but also gained notoriety as the backdrop to Stanley Kubrick's film, 'A Clockwork Orange'. In 'The Town of Tomorrow', 50 years of Thamesmead's history have been assembled and preserved. The architecture of the town and its inhabitants are captured with archive images combined with newly commissioned photography. Original town plans, models, postcards, leaflets and newspaper cuttings are presented alongside interviews with local residents. Together with an introductory essay by John Grindrod, the material conveys the story of this influential but often misunderstood town, from the dreams and excitement of its ambitious original vision to the complex realities of living there today--