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

1965年，英国安格里亚电视台（Anglia television）在一个专题节目中这样描述这座1946年建成的英国第一座新城：“充满创意，适应我们这个时代的生活和挑战。”这22个新城最初是为了解决城市过度拥挤的问题而由公共资金资助的，它们阐明了现代英国不断变化的社会、政治和文化关注点。Sam Wetherell（2020）和Guy Ortolano（2019）最近的研究探讨了新城镇的规划和管理，以评估从社会民主主义到新自由主义的国家转变。然而，他们忽视了性别方法和英格兰南部的特权城镇，模糊了生活经历和地区差异。本博士旨在通过对1961-1989年在斯凯尔默斯代尔、伦康、沃灵顿和兰开夏中部新城的女性空间、自我和记忆建构的口述历史来解决这一学术差距。性别主体性的空间解释是必不可少的，因为女性作为母亲、消费者、工人和公民，对这些城镇的设计、功能和意义至关重要。区域视角通过解构现代性、社会民主主义和市场化的社会和文化方面，使国家和全球新城运动的故事复杂化。如今，英国的城镇面临着住房危机、“商业街的死亡”和日益加剧的私有化。拟议的研究将这些当代问题历史化，因此研究结果将吸引公众、官方和学术受众。现在进行这项研究是至关重要的，因为许多新城镇正在进行“再生”项目，以解决贫困的城镇中心和住房供应问题，并且可能会失去探索居民历史主体性的机会。研究问题：女性给她们的建筑环境赋予了什么意义？女性是如何在与城镇的关系或对立中构建自我的？这些城镇是被控制的还是机会？阶级、种族、婚姻状况、生命周期和母性是如何改变人们的经历的？这些经历又是如何随时间变化的？

'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?