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with its stairs, balconies, lifts, etc., those ever-present hazards to an
adventurous child. Moreover, in a house with a garden, older children
would be less restricted with hobbies and fathers would be
disinclined to seek diversion away from the house. In short, such a
dwelling is most likely to become a 'home' in the fullest sense of the
word giving social and emotional stability to the family.
Nevertheless, at the moment, due to extremely expensive land
values in town areas and the rising costs of labour and materials,
financial stringency is largely dictating housing policy and high rise,
high density schemes are fostered mainly on 'costs' lines rather than
on the needs of the people—quality often being sacrificed for
quantity.
How then are these aspirations of the people and modern
expediency to be reconciled ?
Understandably, in recent years, we have been pre-occupied
with increasing our stock of houses at the expense of other and
perhaps more human aspects. Some areas have been acquired by
authorities and many houses which were basically sound have been
demolished principally because the site could be redeveloped at a
higher density. Furthermore, with comprehensive clearances and
developments, many authorities tie down their resources by laying
waste sections of their district and leaving wide areas to decay.
Slum clearance and new building are extremely costly not only
financially but in terms of human suffering and misery. With little
prospect of financial easement within the next few years it is urgently
necessary for local authorities to explore other ways to deal with
their housing problems.
Revival rather than renewal of some urban areas would seem
to be the most fruitful field for investigation and the Greater London
Council are already planning to bring some of their 1920 cottage
estates such as Becontree, St. Helier and Downham, up to modern
standards. But more important than this is the utilisation, before
deterioration goes too far, of the better quality Georgian and Victorian
property which possesses a grace and charm which many
modern architects have failed to achieve. Because of their large
rooms, restoration of such properties is often effective in increasing
accommodation, it reduces those inevitable delays in clearance,
demolition and rebuilding schemes which sometimes last for as long
as 7 years and it reduces the cost per unit by reason of the fact that
modernisation can be applied to small areas and its speed of completion
tends to offset the interminable rise in building prices
inevitable during long-term planning.
In addition to these 'time and financial' advantages and contrary
to that with clearance areas, such action, preserves the existing
social and community structure and eliminates the psychological