neW urBan environmenTs, C.1860–1950^163escaped the fate which has befallen so many in recent decades – reclaimed
and ‘greened’ as a monotonous expanse of turf – instead developing in
the organic manner, already described, towards woodland. But of greater
significance for wildlife was the emergence for the first time of extensive,
complex and continuous urban environments.
The extent and character of urban growth
The area of England devoted to housing and industry grew steadily between
c.1860 and 1950. It was in this period that the great conurbations, based
on Manchester, Newcastle, Birmingham and London, first really developed
(Figure 29). In part, as I have already noted, this was a consequence of
continued demographic growth, the country’s population more than doubling
between these two dates. But it was also due to improvements in transport
systems. A higher density of railways, the appearance of buses and the spread
of car ownership meant that people did not need to live close to where
they worked. Housing thus spread more widely, and more thinly, across the
landscape, especially in the inter-war years: this was the great age of the
suburb.^13 We should not of course exaggerate the extent of all this building.
Even in 1950 houses and gardens still accounted for less than eight per
figure 29 The growth of London, 1850–1958 (after Sinclair 1964).