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246
By concentrating on the Le Corbusier style "sky-scrapers",
post-war development, albeit in good faith but contrary to the
wishes of the majority, has merely underlined the individual's
insignificance in this advance towards a nebulous housing millenium—he
becomes conscious of the fact that, in the guise of
what is considered best for the community, so much is done to
him and with him rather than for him. For this privilege he has,
since the war, been financially committed to supporting a system
of building which spellbinding experts were agreed was to be the
most economical and satisfactory method of solving the housing
problem. He now learns to his cost that apart from their inherent
practical and psychological disadvantages these high rise flats are
the most expensive forms of home construction with maintenance
costs to match. Catastrophic events like Ronan Point simply add
to and endorse the community's dislike of tower blocks in particular
and its growing dissatisfaction with town planning in
general.
Despite the undoubted sincere efforts of local authorities and
their planners and the application of the best of technical
"expertise", too much emphasis has been directed towards the
provision of accommodation and not nearly enough on its longterm
effects and influences on the lives of individuals and
families. Under the present arrangements, this unavoidable wholesale
blighting and denudation of erstwhile thriving areas followed
by mass re-housing in high rise flats, is socially and psychologically
devastating. Often there remains little pride in possession nor a
sense of belonging and there is complete absence of a community
pulse. Experience shows that, for most families, flat life is
productive of human discomfort if not actual misery; it is usually
inconvenient for amenities and it is, on many occasions, noisy
but, almost always, isolation is increased and loneliness intensified.
Inevitably life becomes mundane and bereft of its more
valuable qualities. We must not be surprised, therefore, if teenagers,
in attempting to relieve this pattern, do so in violent ways
or quit the family altogether in a search for a more satisfying
existence thereby adding to an already overwhelming demand for
housing accommodation.
We must be honest enough to acknowledge the fact that in our
eagerness to solve the nation's serious housing problems and
redress some aspects of social inequality we have, under human
and political pressures, often allowed dubious planning and doubtful
design economics to supervene. Ultimately, we will find that
we have been parties to perpetuating, for another century, the
often unequal aesthetic qualities of private and council housing.
Local authorities are now in the invidious position of inheriting