Coventry Ring Road

Perhaps it was the 14th November 1940 blitz, when Luftwaffe bombs rained down on the historic City of Coventry, that paved the way for Sir Donald Gibson’s dream to be realised. Manchester and Harvard educated, Gibson, the city’s Chief Architect (and later President of RIBA) had already created a Masterplan for the city. Dramatically the issue of whether it was right to demolish medieval streets was no longer in question. The post-war plan, the first of its kind in Europe, would see Coventry’s historic centre become pedestrianised and traffic moved around and beyond the city. By the mid-60s the ring roads were in place and today are recognised for their role in the development of British post-war city planning.

Image Derrick Sansome