After World War II, the most urgent reconstruction problem in these islands was in the field of public housing, and the opportunity presented itself to create innovative buildings and to finally abolish slums. Everyone, including the slum-dwellers, united behind the plan to build new dwellings as quickly as possible. In this book Miles Glendinning and Stefan Muthesius tell the story of a great adventure of building and explain the architectural and political ideas that lay behind it.
The magnificent new novel from the million-selling Booker Prize-winning author of The White Tiger: one of the most eagerly anticipated literary novels of 2011--"a kaleidoscopic portrait of a changing Mumbai." — Guardian (Best Books of 2011) Ask any Bombaywallah about Vishram Society--Tower A of the Vishram Co-operative Housing Society--and you will be told that it is unimpeachably pucca. Despite its location close to the airport, under the flight path of 747s and bordered by slums, it has been pucca for some fifty years. But Bombay has changed in half a century--not least its name--and the world in which Tower A was first built is giving way to a new city; a Mumbai of development and new money; of wealthy Indians returning with fortunes made abroad. When real estate developer Dharmen Shah offers to buy out the residents of Vishram Society, planning to use the site to build a luxury apartment complex, his offer is more than generous. Initially, though, not everyone wants to leave; many of the residents have lived in Vishram for years, and many of them are no longer young. But none can benefit from the offer unless all agree to sell. As tensions rise among the once civil neighbours, one by one those who oppose the offer give way to the majority, until only one man stands in Shah's way: Masterji, a retired schoolteacher, once the most respected man in the building. Shah is a dangerous man to refuse, but as the demolition deadline looms, Masterji's neighbours--friends who have become enemies, acquaintances turned co-conspirators--may stop at nothing to score their payday. A suspense-filled story of money and power, luxury and deprivation, and a rich tapestry peopled by unforgettable characters, not least of which is Bombay itself, Last Man in Tower opens up the hearts and minds of the inhabitants of a great city--ordinary people pushed to their limits in a place that knows none. This eBook edition includes a Reading Group Guide.
***WINNER OF THE ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL WRITING 2023*** 'Never before, in years of reviewing books about buildings, has one brought me to tears. This one did.' Rowan Moore, Observer Book of the Week On 14 June 2017, a 24-storey block of flats went up in flames. The fire climbed up cladding as flammable as solid petrol. Fire doors failed to self-close. No alarm rang out to warn sleeping residents. As smoke seeped into their homes, all were told to ‘stay put’. Many did – and they died. It was a tragedy decades in the making.
This book is dedicated to Marek Sergot, Professor in Computational Logic at Imperial College London, on the occasion of his 60th birthday. Professor Sergot’s scientific contributions range over many different fields. He has developed a series of novel ideas and formal methods bridging areas including artificial intelligence, computational logic, philosophical logic, legal theory, artificial intelligence and law, multi-agent systems and bioinformatics. By combining his background in logic and computing with his interest in the law, deontic logic, action, and related areas, and applying to all his capacity to understand the subtleties of social interaction and normative reasoning, Professor Sergot has opened up new directions of research, and has been a reference, an inspiration, and a model for many researchers in the fields to which he has contributed. The Festschrift includes several reminiscences and introductory essays describing Professor Sergot's achievements, followed by a series of articles on logic programming, temporal reasoning and action languages, artificial intelligence and law, deontic logic and norm-governed systems, and logical approaches to policies.
Extending the concept of British vernacular architecture to embrace buildings such as places of worship, villas, hospitals, suburban semis and post-war mass housing, this book is of use to anyone with an interest in architectural history.
This book investigates energy use and measures to improve the energy efficiency of public housing, using post-war social housing development estates in Cyprus as its example. On this Mediterranean island, which experiences hot and humid temperatures throughout the year, residential buildings need to adapt to the climate to improve the thermal comfort of their occupants. The book assesses the domestic energy use of inefficiently built residential tower blocks and their occupants’ thermal comfort by considering the significant impact of overheating risks on energy consumption and occupants’ thermal comfort and well-being, with the intention of evaluating the current energy performance of base-case representative residential tower blocks (RTBs). In particular, considering the cooling energy demand in the summer, using Famagusta, Cyprus as a case study. It seeks to identify the impact of occupancy patterns and habitual adaptive behaviour of households on home energy performance in order to provide bases for the information needed to calibrate building energy performance of targeted households.
This book seeks to understand the coexistence of bodily regimes and the politics that emerge from the clash between them: Presents a novel conceptual model for understanding the relationship between bodies and affects Reworks Rancière's notions of the distribution of the sensible and the aesthetic unconscious Establishes a dynamic and multiple understanding of the repressive, distributive and communicative unconscious by rethinking Freudian psychoanalysis Utilizes a variety of empirical materials, from Hollywood movies to Freud's case studies Sets its argument about politics within the context of significant social events to ensure its conceptual and empirical material is relevant to the contemporary political moment
Set in Bridgeton, Glasgow in 1968. The Toffs in the Towerblock continues the story of the posh Nairn family who originally hail from the affluent West End of Glasgow. After losing all their money, they now live in a room and kitchen tenement flat in Heron St Bridgeton. The story begins a few months before the Nairn's move to their new high rise flat in Ruby Street. There are laughs galore as they attend their first tenement house party. Also, follow young Rupert as he takes part in a grudge game of 'Rounders', visits Sir William Arrol steelworks in Nuneaton St and has a hilarious visit to a Glasgow barbers shop. The sights and sounds of life in the tenements of 1968 Glasgow are affectionately remembered as the posh Nairn's continue the struggle to adapt to their new lives. There are laughs, tears and tantrums once again as all the regulars return in this funny and heart-warming tale of tenement life.
Estates of multi-storey housing present some of the most intractable problems for urban policy. Many attempts to deal with these problems have either failed or presented poor value for money. Shelter is not enough is an up-to-date evaluation of the issues. It traces the development of multi-storey housing in Britain from its early beginnings, to the period from the mid-1950s to the early 1970s when most of the contemporary legacy of estates was built. The problems in use are examined as are the responses of the authorities faced with mounting technical and social difficulties. Drawing on an analysis of past practice, a 'model framework' is defined which can help to create successful approaches for the regeneration of multi-storey housing. From the experience of the development of multi-storey housing in Britain, its problems and attempted solutions, implications are drawn for public policy, and a strategic approach is outlined which can reform the estates and reintegrate them into the mainstream urban environment. Finally, the British experience is placed in a broader context - the parallel problems surrounding multi-storey estates in Europe, and the contribution transformed multi-storey estates might make in creating more sustainable cities in the millennium. This book provides valuable information for all those involved in urban regeneration - academics and students of housing, architecture and urban studies; development officers, designers and others working in the practice of estate regeneration.
