Chapter 1: the working context

How ambitious?

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Finally there is the question: how bold can we afford to be? This is really a matter of the faith we have in our own future as a nation. If we believe we have a great future then we must also believe that the standard of living will go steadily up, riding over the ephemeral ups and downs of economic life. The long term view must surely be an optimistic one, a belief that we shall have the resources to remould our environment to our liking. The trouble is that urban re-development is a long, slow process, which is fatally inhibited by short term, parsimonious decisions. The opportunity missed today will still be lost, and more bitterly regretted, in fifty years time. If we believe in our future, then surely we must hitch our re-development investment to that belief at once, and not be content with making-do today in the vague hope that we can really start tomorrow. In these matters there is no true distinction between the short term and the long term.