Mobilising Housing Histories

Chapter Four Residential Flats: Densification in Victorian and Early Twentieth Century London

RICHARD DENNIS

A key issue in London today is densification. In the face of a rapidly increasing population – but a lamentable rate of new housing construction, a determination to maintain the Green Belt, a public transport system at the limits of its capacity, and the necessity of building and maintaining a sustainable city – how do we increase residential densities in the existing built-up area without repeating the mistakes that were made with tower blocks and slab estates erected in the 1960s? Equally critical is the question of affordability, not only of owner-occupied but increasingly of privately rented accommodation, and not only for the poorest, ...