To Solve Its Housing Crisis, Britain Turns to an Old Idea: New Towns

By reviving an idea from the past, the government hopes to overcome past development challenges with a plan to build new communities. The town of Northstowe in England, a former WWII airfield, will be transformed into a thriving town with 10,000 homes and about 25,000 residents. The project aims to address the country’s housing crisis by increasing the pace of house building. However, progress has been slow, illustrating the extent of the crisis. The UK’s governing Labour Party has pledged to boost development and construct 1.5 million homes in the next five years.