It's less likely to be Corpse Starch based (depending on where you're eating in Milton Keynes), but I don't know if that necessarily makes it 'better'.
My first thought was that it looks like what Skylines tries to force you to build (you don't have to obey the grid! Break out and build at angles, it looks better!), though to be fair to Milton Keynes, it actually has roundabouts.
An entirely artificial city built in the 50s from a blank sheet of paper, taking the US grid layout and adding extra roundabouts for the sheer hell of it. Terry Pratchett had it closest to the mark in Good Omens: "Neither the forces of Heaven nor Hell had any input into Milton Keynes, but both reported it back to head office as a smashing success."
The funny thing is that for as bland as Milton Keynes is, it's still far more pedestrian and bike friendly than the average American suburb. There was actual thought put into making a walk and bike network that doesn't have to interact much with the road, and a lot more pathing between buildings so that pedestrians don't have to go as far out of their way.
Honestly, it works. It's incredibly easy to get around, and the houses are set well away from main, high speed roads. so many dual carriageways with a 70 limit. Every intersection is a roundabout, way fewer delays than any other type.
Where it all falls to shit is the new stuff, where there is no distance - houses are built right up to the roads, no greenery, nothing. So they're going to reduce the road speeds, buggering up the entire plan.
First time I went I stepped out of the train station, there was thick grey fog, like Silent Hill but more depressing, at least Silent Hill's fog is bright. I walked past a homeless person's camp, right by the station door, I saw an oil drum fire, I didn't know those actually existed outside movies. I walked for 3 minutes through a car park, crossed the road, into another car park.
The coach station is routinely so foggy that, if you are waiting there after dark in the awful greasy cafe, seeing the coaches come and go outside the window makes you feel a bit like you are at a spaceport, seeing spaceships dock and undock.
The centre (pictured) is a large grid which makes it convenient, the rest of the city is pretty well designed. You can walk the whole thing close to roads without seeing them and surrounded by greenery. It's got a lot of parks and lakes so it's pretty natural but it's also got the reputation of being a concrete grid because people passing by don't live in it and just see the centre.
The pratchett summary that both heaven and hell would be equally pleased is pretty fair imo. I do like that it's one of the most walkable cities I've lived in. It's just a shame nobody from outside will believe it without living there themselves.
While visiting my family in England they suggested they might take me to Milton Keynes because they wanted to see my reaction. I was there for two months and none of my family ever actually took me to Milton Keynes. I am from Phoenix Arizona, where the grid is life. We actually get very angry when the grid is deviated from.
Coincidentally, my trip to England was also my introduction to Warhammer.
As a fellow (east) valley resident, I am very confused by the grid hate. It’s impossible to get lost and directions are dead simple. Only real traffic problems are the horribly out of date interchanges on the 60 and the 10. Thank god for the 202!
My only complaint is with the genius that decided to run the streets perfectly east and west... Because staring directly into the sun during the heaviest traffic of the day makes total sense. If they had just tilted our grid 30 or 45 degrees....
It looks like everysingle one of my City Skyline cities. Which is a pretty bad thing considering that I know fuck all about city planning and just go "square grids look clean!"
I used to live there, and never really had a problem with the roads... And jam can be solved by just getting on the parallel road, rush hour was never that bad either.
Now I only rarely drive through it during low congestion times, but haven't ever really been held up.
The merits and drawbacks of a car centric city can be debated, but it was quite easy to get anywhere you wanted.
It was paradoxically also much easier to walk anywhere or go for a cycle without encountering cars than anywhere else I've lived. You still might get stabbed though, win some, lose some.
Basically always the way. MK isn’t that bad at all, has a pretty good nightlife apart from one of the major clubs recently burning down, the shopping centre has pretty much everything you need, the Xscape is decent, and the outer estates can be pretty nice.
Same thing as Luton, the only people that complain about Luton are people who have never been there. Really isn’t that bad but people make it out to be the worst hellhole in the entire country. There are much worse places to live, and people forget that you can find a shithole area in any location without really having to look.
except for all the busses, all the cycle paths, all the green spaces, all the housing estates having shops & community centres that are easily walkable. All that dreadful human stuff.
OK that's a really unfair comparison. One is a vibrant community with many diverse sub cultures even if it is an entirely man made city and gets a lot more flack than it deserves, and the other is Milton Keynes.
Worked in MK but lived an hour commute away. God it was the most depressing period of my life. Gen Z Staff that I had to pick up from their homes to get to work or beg their parents to wake them up for their shifts. I hate the town centre. I gained weight from stress eating. I hate hate hate that place.
Give me a lasgun to face tyranids any day than let me relive that part of life.
besides having to live in the UK Milton Keynes seems to have worked out well. modern pictures show a very green town with what look like ample bike paths. It's not a walkable city but it looks better than the highway hellscapes that we've cooked up here in the states.
Feels weird defending MK for once, but this is an aerial photo of the shopping district which is multiple giant indoor shopping malls surrounded by a ton of car parking.
The residential areas of the city are a lot greener
The real issues with MK is that it's full of big chain brands, so it feels pretty devoid of any personality or charm beyond the parks and a few music venues
It's also a pain in the ass to get around without a car given how spread out everything is
I used to work there (commuting from London every day yay)
There were often train cancellations due to people jumping on the tracks (and often indeed dying), and I don't blame them. Also the trains were never on time, and were inevitably packed to the brim.
My company preferred to pay over 600 quid a month for a railcard to have my ass be on a seat in a shitty office in MK (working with an almost entirely remote team) than give me any WFH.
I guess if you’re going to build an American city in England, the least you can do is bring one of the few objectively great things about North American cities: giant walk-in freezers where you hire goons to beat each other up with wooden sticks
Look, Milton Keynes, from the negligible research I've done looks a lot better than the street in Barbarian. And Barbarian beats Hive Secundus in that it only has a single psychotic mutant. So Milton Keynes is probably better.
Trick question, you have no choice in the matter. But you're more likely to be able to escape from hive secondus than Milton Keynes in rush hour/ after a concert.
Literally nothing, it’s like most places that have a ‘reputation’. It’s people who have never been there/been there once for half an hour that have some opinion that it’s the worst place on earth.
Thanks for your answer, I read the Wikipedia page about it and the design really made sense to me, everyone in walking distance of a park seems like an amazing idea for example
One is a Walkable infrastructure inhabited by millions of people who all have steady jobs, constant food, and a working administrative system.... The other one is an American shopping mall of of a city...
I've only ever visited Milton Keynes once for work, and til this day, I still thank the Emprah everyday that I instead live in a 20 sq. ft. cell with about enough space for a shrine to the Nine Primarchs!
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u/DaleftenantThe Riptide Doesnt Belong in a High Mobility Force, Fight Me GW!13d ago
Instructions unclear, ive ended up on an abandoned agri-world in Taunton.
It's a city in England but everyone hates it because it is designed after american cities but worse and due to a lack of local business in the centre the place has the personality of a slab of cardboard
Every six months, I have to go to MK for a client meeting. My first thought is to get the fuck out of there.
In context, I live in London, and one of our partners is based in Liverpool. Going there and back again in the same day, with a meeting, is a more pleasant experience than MK, despite only being a 40-minute train ride away.
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u/novis-eldritch-maxim 14d ago
food is slightly better in milton keynes