The UK’s Experimental “Roundabout City” - Milton Keynes

✵ The UK’s Experimental “Roundabout City” - Milton Keynes

✵ Milton Keynes Is one of the craziest cities in the world, home to more than 130 roundabouts

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[SnoopySnoo]

probably the most similar place here in america is carmel indiana, a fast growing northern suburb of indianapolis. their longtime mayor did a trip to europe before entering office, and came to really enjoy the idea of roundaboutss, at a time when most americans were very skeptical of them. so when he entered office, one of his main initiatives was converting almost all major intersections in the city to roundabouts, an endeavor still in full swing today as they annex more land in the surrounding area. when INDOT upgraded us-31 in the area to a freeway, they even went so far as making all of the interchanges roundabout-based dogbones. i believe roughly 2% of all of the NATION’S roundabouts are in this city of 100, 000 alone. and it paid off, carmel has some of the safest traffic in the nation.

[AeroGuy]

Completely unrelated, but Milton Keynes is the home of the Red Bull Formula 1 team.

[gchampi]

The really ironic thing about the Milton Keynes "Grid", is that the longest straight piece of road in the entire place, is also the oldest piece of road. It's the old Watling Street, a Roman road, dating back to AD47-8, with the actual age of the route being unknown, but likely over 5, 000 years...

[Abi_]

Milton Keynes, despite being relatively new, is surrounded by history. It was built on and around a lot of historic settlements; Wolverton, Stony Stratford, Bletchley, Milton Keynes Village and Newport Pagnell to name a few (Newport Pagnell even being mentioned in the Domesday Book in 1080AD). Right outside my front door there are ancient hedgerows that date back hundreds of years. There is plenty of character and history here, you just need to know where to look.

[MK]

Great video and I find people that look down upon the city in the UK have just quickly driven through it’s very efficient road system.

If they went off grid, they would find a city where in one walk you would pass roman villas, a Elizabethan manor, norman castle, Victorian viaduct, the last sighting alive of the princes of the tower, the location where Boudica died, the pubs which coined the term a cock and bull story, the location of superman film sets, home of the Bond cars, characters from Dickens novels, Queen, Bowie, Springsteen and MJ at the UK’s version of the Hollywood bowl, first multiplex cinema in UK, the oldest iron bridge still in use, where amazing grace was written, the home of the ww2 codebreakers, a international festival every 2 years, home of formula one champions, more trees than population of Netherlands and a cathedral made out of them, over 2000 listed buildings, the most green space in any UK city, no one ever more than half a mile from a park, first peace pagoda in western hemisphere, and a 2, 000 year old road which splits the city between Viking and Saxon and yes concrete cows as well, but apparently Milton Keynes has no history or culture.

[mankyswan]

as a resident of milton keynes, thanks for covering this!

[JonathonV]

Thanks for covering this city. It’s always been a topic of interest for me ever since I first heard about it!

I used to live in Bedfordshire and never would have visited Milton Keynes if it hadn’t been the location of the nearest IKEA. But when I did visit, I found it absolutely fascinating. I can’t believe that there was enough vision to imagine and plan a city of 250K people where there was once bean fields and the small villages of Middleton and Bletchley.

I definitely noticed the prevailing British sentiment you mentioned about MK having no personality or defining characteristics (except trees and roundabouts). Three times MK tried to apply for its “letters patent” to be considered an official city, and was denied for no real reason except its lack of cultural significance. (It finally got its official city status in 2022. 🥳)

I personally love the idea of a large city in the trees. I also love the sort of space-age, mid-century idea of creating efficient cities from the ground up. That’s just fascinating to me. And according to the history plaques in the large central shopping centre, the site for the city was chosen so that it would be equidistant from London, Birmingham, Oxford, and Cambridge, so that while it was building up, the residents could use it as a commuter town.

I always thought Milton Keynes didn’t get the appreciation it deserved, so thanks for giving it a moment in the spotlight!

[yokeshin]

As a resident of Milton Keynes (moved from London) for the past 39 years, it is one of the best cities in the UK. Roads are H(horizontal) and V(ertical) and intersects at roundabouts where traffic is safe (provided you follow the Highway Code). Lots of greenery, Redways (walkways) connect the grids where they are designated as residential or as business related. Lovely walks along the canal. Best move away from London.

[mg.]

Milton Keynes looks like every Cities Skylines player's city

[baseballfan]

The BBC produced an interesting documentary about the City a few years ago, lot of people moved out of London to live there. They even have delivery robots in certain areas delivering groceries. I have only ever been through the train or coach station. Like all cities some areas are nicer than others depending on the housing stock.

[logwhitley]

It's also one of the first place with automatic delivery robots, self driving cars and as someone who lived their for many years it's quite walkable. The center of the city has improved significantly as original the aim was to separate residential, commercial and industrial district but recently there has been a huge effort to increase residential development in the central commercial zone that has brought a lot more life to the area, i even own an apartment in the center. Good luck with collage

[theo.barcelona]

Love your videos !!! This one is a very interesting one !! Keep up your great work !

[MapperJD]

I live in milton keynes, it is a wonderful city that really encompasses what a city should be about, unique architecture, green space, and a good transport system. many people give milton keynes a lot of slack, but have never been and seen the amazing buildings!

[eldrago]

It meant that Crowley had been allowed to develop Manchester, while Aziraphale had a free hand in the whole of Shropshire. Crowley took Glasgow, Aziraphale had Edinburgh (neither claimed any responsibility for Milton Keynes, [1] but both reported it as a success).

1 Milton Keynes is a new city approximately halfway between London and Birmingham. It was built to be modern, efficient, healthy, and, all in all, a pleasant place to live. Many Britons find this amusing.

- Good Omens

[thiagoprofili]

Another group which looks down on MK is the football community. There are hundreds of videos regarding wimbledon and MK dons and 98% of football fans hate them

[zupermaus]

As a Brit, Milton Keynes is the butt of many jokes and oft derided as a carcentric place without history or culture (they infamously stuck up fake cows in the fields in the 80s), where souls go to die. It's improved alot since then, but would love to visit just to check it out. It is indeed unique in the UK.

[chrisjones]

Interesting to see an American perspective on Milton Keynes, I live local to the city and my work involves driving around Milton Keynes and many other local towns and cities, but no other city can you drive straight across it thru the centre in 15 minutes!

[MikeV]

This seems like a great compromise between car-centric America and the typical Euro-town with streets designed for sedan chairs and nowhere to park. It's also a sizeable city, but it has a certain look and feel of rurality with plenty of nature.

[ficklesickle]

Can you make a video on the strokes? (I know you dont really make videos on bands but it would be cool)

[erikibarra]

Stopped by here while I was in London. I’m from Phoenix, Arizona. Enjoyed it very much, did have a states vibe to it with the layout. Will gladly go back next time.