The aim of this book

Large post-Second World War housing estates are a significant physical and social phenomenon in most European cities. Many of these estates are unproblematic, functioning efficiently within the urban housing market, and considered to be agreeable places in which to live by actual as well as potential residents. However, many other estates are suffering from a multitude of problems. Because so many people live in these kinds of areas and because in a number of cases they are increasingly seen as dysfunctional areas in their cities and beyond, action is needed. In contrast with other, ‘developed’ parts of the cities, housing estates are artificial areas in that they are self-contained, planned developments rather than neighbourhoods that have developed organically over several generations. Moreover, as we have previously argued, their development was informed by economic and social assumptions that no longer apply in the contemporary world. They therefore need concerted, more complex actions when they deteriorate.

The need for action is enhanced by a growing dissatisfaction among the different kinds of people living on the estates, especially among those who do not have the financial means to move elsewhere. The population that is forced to stay suffers increasingly from a multitude of problems, which were defined in Chapter One of this book. These include: the physical decay of the housing stock and public spaces; the increasing concentration of workless and low-income households; social and racial tension between residents; high turnover leading to the erosion of social cohesion; and the deterioration of local private and public services. The call for action comes from parties of all kinds: central government, local government authorities, housing associations, private builders, and, not to be forgotten, the inhabitants of the large housing estates.

On the basis of an EU Fifth Framework research programme carried out in 29 large post-war housing estates in 16 cities in ten European countries, this book addresses a number of issues considered important in the present situation and in the future developments of these estates. In Chapter One, we stated that three questions were to be regarded as central in this book. They are:

• • Which factors and developments are crucial for the future progress and present state and position of large housing estates in European cities?