A few weeks ago, I took myself off to explore the former Olympic Village, north of Stratford. I formed a very negative impression of its anonymity as a model of recent town planning, so was encouraged (quite rightly) to take a walking tour today organised by Allies and Morrison, the architects who did much of the planning of Olympic Park from 2005 onwards. Of course, it helps to know more about the historical process of planning and design and how decisions were made about the layout of the park and who did what.

Olympic Village itself was laid out on the European model: broad boulevards and big apartment blocks, the Corbusian model of town planning:-

Immediately north of what is now called East Village is an area of new development, Chobham Manor, laid out more on the London model, with terrace housing designed by Haworth Tompkins, less anonymous and with a different feel:-

Also, it helps to see behind the big blocks where some of the design is smaller scale and more varied:-

I still prefer the grittier bits of Olympic Park next door to Hackney Wick because it is rougher and less manicured, some of it designed (or un-designed) by muf:-

This is the new Stratford. More tower blocks. But the park itself is good, especially, I realised, the northern half towards the Velodrome which is wilder and has a different character:-