Archigram was concerned with the city as a responsive environment. They feared the city's 'life-blood' was being drained, leaving only the endless uniformity of the suburb. Their practice aimed to break with the tradition of conditioning or enabling certain social behavior exemplified by Architects like Smithson. By pursuing new vernacular, they attempted to save the new generation from being condemned to build its predecessor's vision and creating "a second hand, second-rate actuality."
"The Edwardian garden city has been realised, suitably degraded in our New Towns; Le Corbusier's Ville Radieuse is encamped around Richmond Park, and in many tiny fragments can be seen shouldering aside te slums of south London... There is no comfort"
- Peter Cook, Living Arts p.66
Archigram's response to the unresponsive city was to question (though not reject) the urban environment. They engaged in considering the city as a whole and their though led to fantastical re-organizations of the system.