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I Love This Dirty Town

First transmitted in 1969, this personal plea from Margaret Drabble is a lament for the death of the city as planners create endless suburbia instead of cities fit to live in.

First transmitted in 1969, this personal plea from Margaret Drabble is a lament for the death of the city, which questions whether 'civic redevelopment' is tearing the heart out of our cities. Are tower blocks, giant supermarkets and an ever expanding suburbia the way forward? Margaret Drabble thinks not and argues that a successful city combines areas where residents and office workers share a space and a multiplicity of shops serve their needs. She also challenges the myth that streets are traffic arteries and unsavoury places to be in, especially for children, arguing that it's traffic that's the problem, not kids.

Available now

30 minutes

Last on

Sat 4 Jan 1969 21:00
BBC Two except East, South East & Yorkshire

Clip

BBC Four London Collection

BBC Four London Collection
This programme is part of a collection of BBC programmes celebrating the people and places of London. Available online now. 

Go the BBC Four London Collection

More about this programme

The documentary was based on Jane Jacobs' work "The Death and Life of Great American Cities" (1961), an influential book on urban planning in the 20th Century.

About BBC Four Collection programmes

Programmes are selected, in part, for their historical context and reflect the broadcast standards and attitudes of their time, which may not accord to some current BBC editorial guidelines. We aim to select programmes which can be shown in their entirety but in some cases edits are required.

Broadcast

  • Sat 4 Jan 1969 21:00
    BBC Two except East, South East & Yorkshire

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