The layout of Milton Keynes

• Initially, MK planners were influenced by Melvin Webber's ideas of a plug-in city where modern citizens had access to education, private transport and communication technology - no more local neighbourhoods but a city with a wide range of opportunities from which each citizen can select their ideal lifestyle.
• To facilitate easy movement by car all employment and services were dispersed and thus traffic congestion has been minimised.
• The main road system has been laid out in the pattern of a grid with roads running north south intersecting east west roads at approximately 1 km intervals.
• The grid road system permits an infinite range of flexibility between any two points in the City.
• The dispersed nature of the City has made it difficult to design an economical and effective public transport system.
• A cycle and walking system which enables access to all parts of the City without crossing the main grid roads has also been created. This is called the Redway system.
• The layout of the City reflects a strong desire by the planners to create an English version of American freeway-linked conurbation like Los Angeles.
• 22% of the land within the designated area is given over to park-land.
• Linear parks follow the natural features of the Grand Union Canal, and the rivers Ouse and Ouzel.
• The linear parks also have streams and channels which drain rain run-off into a system of 13 balancing lakes (specially created bowls in the earth designed to hold rain water and slowly release it into the river system - this vastly reduces incidents of local and regional flooding)