Urban Sketching - MK

Sketching the urban landscape.

Milton Keynes

My Milton Keynes (MK) urban sketches are part of an ongoing visual conversation about the urban and social landscape of central MK. They are a personal take on my local urban landscape and cover a variety of styles of architecture from 1970's Wolverton through to the latest re-furb of an estate shop. My sketches form a loose visual conversation around the impact of the local urban landscape from the point of view of a local resident who moved into the area at the tail end of the 1990's.


Milton Keynes is a planned 'new town' which marked its 50th anniversary in 2017. As a product of urban planning, it is a mixture of a utopian vision of social integration, as envisaged by city planners, marred only by the quirks of human nature, natural decay and later restrictions on local authority funding. Residential areas benefit from amenities such as local green spaces, play areas and local centres, connected by a grid network of roads and meandering cycle paths (known as redways). These estates also face the challenge of creating communities in residential areas where it's easy to become isolated from neighbours who disappear into their flats and houses once they return from work.


The Local Shop

The urban plan for MK estates dictates that they each have a local centre with at least one shop.

The Local Shop - ink and watercolour sketch

Civic Offices

Milton Keynes, or 'milk and beans' in local slang, is a  'new town' that sees itself as a city. It always aims high and has made a bid for city status and to be a European Capital of Culture. Every two years it hosts an International Festival of arts, with its own MK Fringe Festival and the centrally-located contemporary art gallery is expanding too.

The borough of Milton Keynes has been a unitary authority independent of Buckinghamshire County Council since 1997. This causes some local friction as some Buckinghamshire people see the new town of MK as having taken benefits away from the wider surrounding area. However, Milton Keynes continues to grow and benefits from its central location to be a warehouse and business hub for many companies.

Civic Offices - ink and watercolour sketch

Pizza Hut Centre MK.

This Pizza Hut outlet is one of a number of chain store restaurants in the American-style mall shopping area. With a mix of food, drink, shopping outlets and plenty of car parking, the central area aims to keep shoppers in the area for as long as possible. Most local bus routes go via the commercial heart of Milton Keynes. Whilst the centre of MK is a haven for chain stores, the rents are too high for most independent small businesses, except for those that have opened up in the market area.

Pizza Hut, Centre:MK - ink and watercolour sketch

Pret Chat

Socialising in central MK often focuses on the shopping centres, the first of which was designed to be the town's central high street. Whilst this makes it easier to access many shops, it's also based on a commercial model which provides few central, dedicated and low-cost community spaces, potentially isolating those who cannot afford to eat out or travel into the centre to socialise.

Pret Chat - ink and watercolour sketch

See more of my urban sketches and photographs on my Instagram profile @srfirehorseart.