the modernist magazine issue #45 MUNICIPAL
municipal
The local authority, the borough council, was the furthest away from central government, but many of its officers were fiercely proud of their municipality and their role in shaping its environment for the better. Modernisation was consensual and seen as a civic enterprise as well as an economic imperative. ‘M’ for Municipal, here, could easily be (small) ‘p’ for political.
This issue is a love letter and a lament for the architecture and design of the state and its structures. At a time when the UK government is ideologically orientated towards a ‘lean state’, it seems relevant to ask, ‘what did the state ever do for us?’I hope that this edition of The Modernist gently provokes the reader to consider who and what we design for, and why it might be important to us all.
Richard Brook (guest editor)
Richard Brook is the Director of Research at Lancaster University’s School of Architecture
60 pages b&w and colour
200mm x 200mm
Perfect bound
the modernist magazine
"the modernist offers unique perspectives on 20th-century architecture and design. With its pages full of bus stops, B-roads and concrete — you won’t find any swaying fields of wheat here. But don’t be fooled by all the municipal mundanity; warm and endearingly nerdy, this is an unconventional but nonetheless idyllic picture of Britain. In these strange times, there is solace to be found in the quiet fanaticism of this magazine." (Stack Magazines)