Photographs that shaped the urban landscape

13 September 2023

Image caption,
Southmere Lake and Southmere Towers, Thamesmead, Greenwich, London

Images of the often brutal urban landscapes of late 1960s Britain - captured by photographers working for the Architectural Review - can now be seen at the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in London.

Pictures by Ian Berry, Patrick Ward and Tony Ray-Jones, many of which have never been exhibited before, were taken as part of a series called Manplan. Its aim was to analyse the state of architecture and urban planning in Britain at that time.

Eight special issues were published from September 1969 to September 1970, with each issue devoted to an individual area of human activity that was considered to be affected by design and planning choices.

Peter Baistow

High-rise flats and multi-storey car park, Birmingham

Guest editors, including Lord Norman Foster and Virginia Makins, were invited, together with specially commissioned photojournalists and street photographers, to articulate the theme of each issue.

"This exhibition, with the raw power of its photographs, brings us back to a time of challenges, disparities, disillusionment, but also a time of questioning, protesting, campaigning - in many ways, much like our here and now," says Valeria Carullo, exhibition lead curator and RIBA photographs curator

"It is a timely reminder of the importance of citizens' participation in the decisions that affect their communities and the role architects can play in creating a fairer society."

The exhibition can be seen until 24 February 2024, at RIBA Architecture Gallery in Portland Place, London.

Here is a selection of the photographs on show.