Technical change and social need: the case of high rise flats |
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| Authors: | Robert McCutcheon |
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| Institution: | Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK |
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| Abstract: | The first eleven storey blocks of flats in the UK were built in the early fifties. Only twenty years later over half a million people are housed in blocks varying from eleven to 31 storeys in height. These buildings have been built under the responsibility of public authorities responsible for the provision, management and maintenance of housing. Now, however, the provision of this type of housing has almost come to a halt. The widespread use of high flats has been seen as the inevitable result of advances in building technology. The recent rapid decline in numbers built has been attributed primarily to the concern arising from the inhuman social conditions which must inevitably result from such an unnatural form of housing. This paper argues that while high flats stemmed in part from technological advances, it is not possible to attribute their use to such advances. To do so ignores factors which were at work within national and local government, the building industry and the architectural profession. It is equally insufficient to attribute their decline to social concern. It is more probable that financial pressures and a change in national policy away from new building to restoration of older houses was of greater importance than the social problems created by high flats. However, one factor which helped to unite the various parties responsible for the introduction and use of high flats in housing policy, was a widespread belief in the possibilities of modern technologies in relation to the housing problem. Different aspects of the concept appealed to the different protagonists. This paper briefly describes some of the interactions between the different parties concerned with high flats. The major conclusion is that as an innovation high flats have not conformed to the theoretical postulates expounded about them, and that they have been greatly influenced by existing economic and social structures. |
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