Britain’s postwar estates fell rapidly from grace,yet for many nowadays they are much-loved homes. Douglas Murphy looks back at an architectural utopian dreamModernist estates: residents discuss what it’s like to live on one[br]“Living in a high-rise block does not force all its inhabitants to become criminals, but by creating anonymity, or lack of surveillance and escape routes,it puts temptation in their way and makes it probable that some of the weaker brethren will succumb.”So wrote Alice Coleman, geographer at King’s College London, or in her 1985 book,Utopia on Trial. This marked the nadir ((n.) the lowest point of something) of the reputation of the UKs contemporary houses, built sporadically between the wars and in massive numbers in the 30 years after. Coleman and her team ran round London housing estates counting instances of graffiti, and litter and pissy lifts and decided that contemporary housing was all incorrect,urban planning was impossible and that the natural selection” of the free market meant little homes with little gardens were a way of living that was impossible (perhaps even immoral) to improve upon.
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Source: theguardian.com