Andrew Harding's Blog

In February 1968 the MP for Wolverhampton South West, and shadow defence secretary Enoch Powell gave a speech in Birmingham that has become notorious in British political history. So notorious that the proposed broadcasting of this speech by the BBC 50 years later has caused considerable controversy – not controversy as great perhaps as the original speech, as I will explain, but nonetheless a political storm. At that time I was living in Wolverhampton, and attending Wolverhampton Grammar School. My father was General Secretary of the local YMCA, and a well-known figure in youth and community work and community relations. He was once offered the position of first Community Relations Officer in the UK. He turned it down as he thought the first CRO should not be a white British man. The position was I think given to Harvey de Pass, a West Indian who became something of a legendary figure in this field. We lived in a flat on the upper floor of the YMCA building in the city centr...

    Abstract: This article explores the concept and spread of the five-foot way (5FW) as an aspect of urban design peculiar to Southeast Asia. It locates the 5FW as an aspect of planning law and property law that has been adapted culturally to provide a unique space for public-private interaction. The article also explores, in a related context, conflicts over the appropriate use of 5FWs and the issue of regulating such use. The approach adopted is to look at the development of the 5FW over the entire colonial period of Singapore, starting in 1819, up to the present day. Comparisons are drawn from other urban settlements over a similar period. The article finds that the 5FW, with its related device of the shophouse, provided a uniquely efficacious space for protection of the public from the elements and for public-private interaction. It finds that regulation of 5FWs should be undertaken with due regard both to public right of way and to the cultural element of mak...