T8 Lecture 2 What is the contemporary city made of?

It’s a good starting approach to understanding cities by visiting them and having a look round.

WW2 had caused massive social change in Britain. The transient nature of people’s surroundings or this perception had lead to people being less precious about unnecessary belongings, and had increased community collaboration through necessity. Churchill, the famous war leader was voted out at the first opportunity in favour of a Labour Government promising a Welfare State. Unfortunately, economic uncertainty in America lead to them recalling the massive war debts Britain owed, which lead to a much diluted version of the Welfare State being implemented. Does that have any relevance…

The lecture seemed to sit very well with our conclusions as a group to date. Politics and money have a much bigger say in our built environment than Architects-is this fair to say?

We’re still looking at architecture as object.

Jane Jacobs observes the city and makes common sense conclusions. This doesn’t mean that she knows best for the city (I haven’t got to the ‘Different Tactics’ section yet) but it shows that through observation, some local knowledge and a little presumption we can see a little past our social assumptions.

I would relate this to Park Hill, Sheffield.

I took a friend up to see it this year, I’d never been in the middle of it when I was younger because I’d grown up with the stories (and it’s a Sheffield United stronghold) but now only a few people live there I thought it was ok!

It was built by the City Architects to the emerging theory lead by the Smithsons in their unbuilt Golden Lane competition entry. With exposed concrete structure and raised deck access open to the elements (later a major criticism-open decks may work in French sunshine but in driving Yorkshire rain?-I think this is a bit irrelevant). As was mentioned in the lecture, Park Hill was considered successful by its residents for the first 30 years, with schools, play areas, shops, pubs, hairdressers, all part of the development and in the middle, not on some lonely edge. Also, that its decline correlates directly with the decline of the steel industry, at its absolute peak in the late 70’s; with jobs in the steel industry falling by 90% in the following 10 years as automation kicked in and competition closed other plants. Not forgetting Margaret Thatcher(the wicked witch)’s input, cutting inner city Council budgets to a third of their previous levels, with many maintenance budgets for public housing being scrapped altogether. Liverpool being the only Council, which temporarily resisted, with its Militant movement. Again mentioned in the lecture, but it is worth going to Liverpool to perhaps Toxteth. Its very weird; rows of terraced houses in good condition but to be demolished by their Council owners, next to a green site where the street outline shows where the next identical set of terraced houses were. Then on the same size site, following the same road pattern, a group of semi-detached houses, as seen in the lecture, of roughly a third the density of the terraced rows. Go to Granby Street, once a bustling row of shops with a long market where the flats above the shops used to be a valuable commodity, highly sought after by the young people of the area. Now a newsagent, with the traditional Liverpool plexi-glass surrounded counter, a Caribbean club and foreign food shop, a local Police outpost with anti ram-raid protection built into the surrounding pavement and by far the most popular, opposite the cop-shop the drug dealers who don’t seem to make any concession to hide what they are up to. Oh, and Ken’s barbers. Actually, sounds quite good there, I suppose it is in ways but you have to go perhaps.

Sheffield Council caved in, lead at the time by The Right Honourable David Blunkett MP.

Now Urban Splash aren’t redeveloping Park Hill because they can’t make such massive profits at the moment. They didn’t even bother fixing the structural concrete mentioned in its 2* listing, rather, they covered over the exposed rusting steel reinforcing bars.

I’ve got carried away with object now-its too easy.

Robert Mull’s question was a good one, in that it picked up on the main factor, which discredits, to most people the argument that the lecture was making. That it’s easy to be critical (clearly its not because more people would be so), without proposing a solution. Owen Hatherley’s was to revert to and improve his Socially Democratic England 4. Clearly, at least in the short term this will not be the case. So, us SPUD’s need to be looking for a New England, and not take Billy Bragg’s stance…

It’s the first time I’ve listened to an SWP member for so long and not had to buy a paper-so that’s good.