the original harlow new town was built after world war ii to ease overcrowding in london and the surrounding areas due to the devastation caused by the bombing during the blitz. harlow was a mark one new town along with other new towns such as basildon, stevenage and hemel hempstead. new towns were designated following the new towns act of 1946, with the master plan for harlow drawn up in 1947 by sir frederick gibberd. the town was planned from the outset and was designed to respect the existing landscape. a number of landscape wedges - which later became known as green wedges - were designed to cut through the town and separate the neighbourhoods of the town. the development incorporated the market town of harlow, now a neighbourhood known as old harlow, and the villages of great parndon, latton, tye green, potter street, churchgate street, little parndon, and netteswell. each of the town's neighbourhoods is self-supporting with its own shopping precincts, community facilities and pubs. gibberd invited many of the country's leading post-war architects to design buildings in the town, including philip powell and hidalgo moya, leonard manasseh, michael neylan, e c p monson, gerard goalen, maxwell fry, jane drew, graham dawbarn, h. t. cadbury-brown and william crabtree. harlow has one of the most extensive cycle track networks in the country, connecting all areas of the town to the town centre and industrial areas. the cycle network is composed mostly of the original old town roads.