Manplan 2, appearing in October 1969, developed a ‘theory of contacts’ within society – including transport, shipping and communication networks – and can be read as an early environmental manifesto
Following the AR’s launch of the Manplan series of special issues in September 1969, in which ‘Frustration’ with the ideals of technological progress was aired, the second issue, Manplan 2, adopted a more propositional tone and focused on ‘Society and its contacts’.
AR October 1969 examined the city’s ‘circulatory system’ through its lines and means of communication – road and rail, air and water, but also telephone networks and new technologies. The editors lamented the pressures of the road lobby and the neglect of canals, while British Rail’s new Advanced Passenger Train 1, very well suited to the series’ characteristic gatefolds, was part of an ‘international rail revival’.
Credit:The Architectural Review/F1 Colour
Credit:The Architectural Review/F1 Colour
In the issue, a ‘theory of contacts’ emerges, which included airports, roads and motorways, containers and shipping ports. Sci-fi predictions of ‘bedside computers, wristwatch-walkie-talkies, transmission by lasers, microwave radios, closed-circuit TV, picture telephones, cordless telephones, miniature telephones, portable videotape recorders, pneumatic tubes, robotugs and inventions as yet undreamed of’ also formed part of this network of contacts, which seems so prescient to be almost banal to the 21st-century reader.
Writing in AR April 2023, Stephen Parnell notes that Manplan 2 can be read as something of an early environmental manifesto: ‘Manplan 2 highlights the impact of the individual car on the environment and proposes greening the disused railways and returning to the network of canals that was developed during the industrial revolution for the efficient movement of goods around the country.’
It was not, however, without its contradictions: ‘While these far-sighted proposals remain valid today, the issue fails to foresee the longer-term environmental consequences of air travel; it recognises ”“airport terminals the world over are exhausting” but cannot contain its fascination for the upcoming era of the jumbo jet.’
In AR April 2023, Stephen Parnell revisits the Manplan series in the light of the climate crisis. Read the full piece here
