Mothers of Modernity: Women's Experiences of New Towns in North West England, 1961 - 1989

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'Full of ideas [and] geared to the life and challenge of our times' was how a 1965 Anglia Televisionfeature described Britain's first new town, designated in 1946. Originally intended as publiclyfunded solutions to urban overcrowding, the twenty two newtowns illuminate the changing social,political, and cultural preoccupations of modern Britain. Recent research by Sam Wetherell (2020)and Guy Ortolano (2019) explores the planning and management of new towns to assess thenational shift from social democracy to neoliberalism. However, they neglect gendered approachesand privilege towns in South England, obscuring lived experience and regional variations. This PhDaims to address this scholarly gap through an oral history of women's construction of space, self,and memory in Skelmersdale, Runcorn, Warrington, and Central Lancashire New Town, 1961-1989.A spatial interpretation of gendered subjectivities is essential, since women were crucial to thedesign, function, and meaning of these towns as mothers,consumers, workers, and citizens. Aregional perspective complicates the story of the national and global new towns movement bydeconstructing the social and cultural aspects of modernity, social democracy, and marketisation.Today, Britain's towns face ahousing crisis, the 'death of the high-street', and increasingprivatisation. The proposed research historicises these contemporary issues, so the findings willappeal to both public, official, and academic audiences. It is essential to undertake this researchnow, since many new towns are undergoing 'regeneration' projects tackling poor town centres andhousing provision, and the opportunity to explore residents' historical subjectivities may be lost.Research QuestionsWhat meanings did women attach totheir built environment?How did women construct selfhoods in relation or opposition to their towns?Were the towns sites of control or opportunity?How did class, race, marital status, life cycle, and motherhood alter experiences, and howdid this varyover time?