Let's Build a New Town We Actually Want to Live In
The Rise of identity based new towns
The Problem
Returning to the UK after living abroad often means choosing between London or a old-run down / dead commuter town - poorly run, lacking character, and without much sense of community.
Most high quality housing is old, and the majority of new builds are soulless and poorly constructed to save money and make a quick buck, if it receives planning permission at all.
The UK desperately needs new housing, but nobody wants it built near them.
Communities are quietly declining as people commute in and out without ever truly belonging anywhere.
The UK desperately needs new housing
Millions of remote workers sit at home, productive but isolated.
And elderly people, often overlooked in how we think about place, are among the loneliest people in the country.
These problems are connected. We’ve built places optimised for cars and we’re not incentivised to build beautiful communities.
The Solution
There are 330 million remote workers around the world, with 14% fully remote in UK, this is growing fast.
But everyone usually thinks of themselves as individuals.
What if the people who could afford to leave - creators, musicians, remote workers, entrepreneurs, artists, builders - instead came together.
Not as individuals drifting to wherever is affordable, like Bali or Dubai, for a few years, but together as a coordinated group with real economic weight, shared values, and a clear vision for what a place could become, in a real English-speaking country, with people building for the future.
The idea is simple.
Come together, that gives us negotiation power, and the ability to build something extraordinary.
Choose a town, or build one, come together, and make it extraordinary.
Work with developers or build directly to create high quality, community-focused housing.
Negotiate with the local council the way large companies do - bringing jobs, money spending, media attention and talent in exchange for planning support and investment.
Pedestrianise the town square. Build a theatre, an art gallery. Bring in independent shops. Connect it to nature with parks and thoughtful architecture.
Make it beautiful.
And also make it intergenerational.
Not a gated community for the young and wealthy, but a place where elderly residents, families, and people at every stage of life belong and contribute.
With housing for people at every stage.
Mainly in a transitional style - mixing heritage of the local area with modern but making it beautiful.
Everyone gives back in their own way, everyone feels connected to it.
Who This Is For
People who are not looking to buy a house to make money from it, but buy a place to live.
People who are not daily commuters, but those who can work remotely, create online, run businesses, make art, or build things, and want to be around other talented people.
People who care about beautiful architecture, about community, about living somewhere with soul.
Markets, performances, walking, festivals.
People who are tired of the choice being London or nowhere.
Where
Within an hour of a major city like London.
Close to countryside, with a river or lake, otherwise we can build one.
Accessible to an airport, with good transport links.
Preferably UK, but open to other attractive options.
The UK is trying to build new towns - it is in the research stage.
Independent demographic and migration-based analyses (such as by the Financial Times or Centre for Cities) suggest that between 420,000 to 500,000+ new homes a year are needed to fully match the rising population and stabilize the housing market
Collectively, the new towns plan has the potential to build up to 191,000 homes over the coming decades vastly below what is actually required to fix the UK’s structural housing deficit
A new proposal in Tempsford in Bedfordshire is one possibility - well connected, affordable, buildable.
But the right location follows the right people, not the other way around.
Why This Could Work
By creating a beautiful town that adds value to the community, and money and jobs, and facilities rather than a dry commuter town, we can eliminate the planning permissions problem, and planning permission can stream through.
They don’t want the hassle to review individual houses, but 100+ houses, they look at very seriously.
A group of a hundred people with serious income and aligned values represents real economic power.
Cities and councils compete hard for that kind of inward investment. The difference here is that instead of waiting to be invited, this group arrives with a plan, capital, and the collective will to see it through.
The remote work era has given people freedom of location that previous generations never had.
Most have used that freedom to stay comfortable.
This is about using it to build something worth staying for.
Where Do Similar Ideas Exist Already
Culdesac (Tempe, Arizona)
Ponta do Sol (Madeira, Portugal)
Marmalade Lane (Cambridge)
Let’s Connect
If you’re interested in this idea, leave a comment, like or send a message.
Currently we have people 5 people with $4 million USD+ revenue of businesses interested in this.
If we can get this up to $80 or even $250 million USD then it can give us some serious negotiating power, or just 100+ freelancers or remote workers could be enough.