In 1955, Britain’s most prestigious architectural magazine, The Architectural Review, published a special issue featuring a single essay by Ian Nairn, a famously opinionated (and untrained) architectural critic. Based on observations made on a journey Nairn took across the UK in a Morris Minor, Outrage is a searing critique of urban sprawl, or ‘Subtopia’. In this manifesto, Nairn warns that ‘if what is called development is allowed to multiply at the present rate’, Britain’s natural – and urban – landscapes will lose their individuality and spirit. A call-to-arms against the ‘greying out’ of our towns and countryside before it’s too late, Outrage is widely considered to be Nairn’s masterpiece.
