Conservation and (sub)urban form: reviewing policy in Stratford upon Avon,2004-2019

The interplay between urban morphology as an academic (sub)discipline, albeit supported by a wide range of more established disciplines ranging from geography, architecture and history to urban studies and urban design, and professional practices of urban planning, architecture and urban design is complex and problematic. This chapter addresses one part of that problem using the example of a small-scale morphologically-informed study of parts of a small English country town, albeit one with an international reputation and high tourist traffic. The town is Stratford upon Avon, and the tourists demand a particular image and identity. In fact the town’s contemporary character is commodified and increasingly aimed at, and created by, tourists; and this has major implications for the planning and conservation of the built environment (Hubbard and Lilley, 2000). This has become most obvious in the past three or four decades, when a wider consensus about the importance of conservation has emerged (Pendlebury, 2008) and processes of selection and management have identified an ‘authorised heritage discourse’ (Smith, 2006). That discourse is very managed and authorised in Stratford given the importance of its millions of tourists to the town’s economy.