Quote:
Originally Posted by hayseed
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Little story - The old man was a town planner of the 1960s generation and they all marvelled at these new towers. Architects like Le Corbusier cried out that if Paris' slums were not cleared and replaced with these towers, revolution would occur!
So the former slums (individual and attached housing) were cleared and the great modernist and brutalist towers in the sky were developed. The idea was everyone lives in the tower, there are great grassy expanses around to play games and sports. Life would be better.
Fast forward to the 1990s/2000s and I am a building surveyor on jobs to check over these things before substantial renovation or demolition. All around the building, scenes of anomie - graffiti, needles, alienation. I do remember one level being tagged 'Cell Block D'. What happened? I went back and asked my old man "What were you guys thinking?" He replied that the situation was worse beforehand, but the blocks had not proved to be the vision they had for them... I told him what I'd seen.
For the future I hope for quality, individual housing instead of these things. Maybe it will be better, maybe not.