Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures and tables
- Dedication
- Preface
- Foreword
- one Introduction
- two Forming the multi-storey legacy
- three Politics, economics and housing form
- four Social stigma and community action
- five Redeeming the estates
- six Facets of regeneration
- seven Building a model framework
- eight Prospects for transformation
- nine Ending the estate syndrome
- ten On broader horizons ...
- Bibliography
- Appendix: Case study research
- Index
two - Forming the multi-storey legacy
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 July 2022
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures and tables
- Dedication
- Preface
- Foreword
- one Introduction
- two Forming the multi-storey legacy
- three Politics, economics and housing form
- four Social stigma and community action
- five Redeeming the estates
- six Facets of regeneration
- seven Building a model framework
- eight Prospects for transformation
- nine Ending the estate syndrome
- ten On broader horizons ...
- Bibliography
- Appendix: Case study research
- Index
Summary
Over a period of 20 years Britain's cities were torn apart in a sustained and powerful outburst of demolition and redevelopment. The bulldozers began their work – slowly – in the 1950s and reached the peak of their destructive power in the following decade. In their wake, many of the familiar Victorian buildings of the city centres were replaced with new modern shops or office blocks or with new roads. In the residential areas surrounding the commercial centres, old houses – most of them run-down and overcrowded – were cleared away in increasingly large swathes. In their place rose new estates of council housing – thousands upon thousands of blocks of flats culminating in tall towers or densely packed multi-storey slabs. The social and environmental consequences of this process quickly became apparent. The destruction of communities and the loss of familiar neighbourhoods provoked a response which helped to bring wholesale redevelopment to an end. It took a little longer for the shortcomings of the resulting legacy to be revealed.
Estates of multi-storey flats came to form a very substantial part of the inner areas of large cities. They were designed to provide a standard of housing greatly superior to the slums they replaced. In many respects, standards were much higher. But before long the problems of multi-storey living became increasingly manifest. Many of the inner-city estates quickly deteriorated through vandalism and abuse and have since become the focus of crime and serious social deprivation. Their problems have kept them high on the public agenda. Often the opprobrium they generate is reflected on the period when most of the estates were built – the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. Some blame a high-handed and inflexible public bureaucracy; some the misguided aspirations of politicians; others the misplaced idealism of architects. In truth, the problems of multi-storey estates are but the latest manifestation of Britain's urban housing problems, the roots of which lie much deeper in history.
Multi-storey living is not an innovation of the 20th century. At the centres of large cities, even in pre-industrial times, buildings were commonly subdivided to house several families. This practice intensified as more and more people flocked to the cities in the rapid urbanisation of the 19th century. Over the century as a whole the urban population increased more than fifteenfold.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Shelter Is Not EnoughTransforming Multi-Storey Housing, pp. 11 - 42Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2000