The British council estate, once the symbolism of a classless society, has now become ”shorthand for general lumpenproletarian venality and violence”. (Hanley, 2007) It is difficult to comprehend the extent of the decline of the Modernist’s new society, from a society that would eradicate class struggle to a metaphor for crime and anti-social behaviour.
This book and essay explore these themes through three varying examples of post-war council estates: the successful, the failed and the gentrified.