‘Excavating’ Pruitt-Igoe using space syntax

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-68
Author(s):  
Mark David Major
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Public Housing ◽  
Social Housing ◽  
Space Syntax ◽  
Modern Architecture ◽  
Housing Authority ◽  
Housing Project ◽  
Housing Projects ◽  
Charles Jencks

Pruitt-Igoe, in St Louis, Missouri, United States, was one of the most notorious social housing projects of the twentieth century. Charles Jencks argued opening his book The Language of Post-Modern Architecture, ‘Modern Architecture died in St Louis, Missouri on July 15, 1972 at 3.32 pm (or thereabouts) when the infamous Pruitt-Igoe scheme, or rather several of its slab blocks, were given the final coup de grâce by dynamite.’ However, the magazine Architectural Forum had heralded the project as ‘the best high apartment’ of the year in 1951. Indeed, one of its first residents in 1957 described Pruitt-Igoe as ‘like an oasis in a desert, all of this newness’. But a later resident derided the housing project as ‘Hell on Earth’ in 1967. Only eighteen years after opening, the St Louis Public Housing Authority (PHA) began demolishing Pruitt-Igoe in 1972 [1]. It remains commonly cited for the failures of modernist design and planning.

Conclusion

2021 ◽  
pp. 413-436
Author(s):  
Paul Watt
Keyword(s):  
Working Class ◽  
Public Housing ◽  
Social Housing ◽  
Policy Recommendations ◽  
Housing Projects ◽  
Deprivation Indices ◽  
External Forces ◽  
Urban Marginality ◽  
Housing Estates ◽  
Comparative Urbanism

The concluding chapter summarises the key findings and suggests policy recommendations. Part I delineated the pernicious impacts of neoliberalism and austerity on public/social housing in London, and analysed the role that estate demolition has played. Part II cast a sociological gaze not only at how working-class housing, lives and spaces are materially deprived and symbolically devalued by powerful external forces (neoliberalism and austerity), but also at how such housing, lives and spaces become valued and valuable. This emphasis on positive values corrects those policy perspectives that view estates through the epistemologically narrow lens of quantitative area-based deprivation indices. In comparative urbanism terms, London social housing estates remain substantially different from the anomic, often dangerous spaces of urban marginality such as US public housing projects (Wacquant). Part III focused on residents’ experiences of living through regeneration. It demonstrated how the valuation/devaluation duality tilts around in terms of place belonging. Comprehensive redevelopment diminishes the valued aspects of estates, while the devalued aspects are heightened and eventually dominate. The book provides several policy recommendations and research agendas. Demolition-based regeneration schemes inevitably result in state-led gentrification, but refurbishment-only schemes have the potential to improve estates and residents’ lives.

Devalued places

2021 ◽  
pp. 189-220
Author(s):  
Paul Watt
Keyword(s):  
Mass Media ◽  
Public Housing ◽  
Social Housing ◽  
Social Behaviour ◽  
Fear Of Crime ◽  
Housing Projects ◽  
The Right ◽  
Right To Buy

This chapter explores how pre-regeneration estates became devalued places, largely connected to neoliberalisation and austerity policies and effects. Five devaluation strands are analysed: overcrowding, landlord neglect, population transience, crime and disorder, and stigmatisation. Overcrowded families living in small flats were unable to transfer to larger properties because social housing has contracted, trapping them in dwellings that no longer felt like home – un-homing. Although properties and estates were physically solid, they had been neglected due to inadequate investment, repairs and maintenance services. Landlord transfers (from the Greater London Council to the borough councils), plus managerialist restructuring (outsourcing and cutting back caretakers), also contributed to tenants’ complaints about living in a worsening environment. London estates have become more transient places due to the Right-to-Buy because of increased private landlordism, tenants and Airbnb guests. Crime, fear of crime and anti-social behaviour were important issues at some estates, but less so at others. Estates have become symbolically devalued via mass media territorial stigmatisation which has been exacerbated by austerity-related ‘poverty porn’ TV programmes. Despite such devaluations, residents generally positively valued their homes and estates (Chapter 6), and there was no mass desire to leave unlike in the case of US public housing projects (Wacquant).

scholarly journals Project governance practices in urban public housing projects: a case study of public housing in Malaysia

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdul Muhaimin Abdul Latiff ◽  
Aini Jaapar ◽  
Che Maznah Mat Isa
Keyword(s):  
Public Housing ◽  
Single Case ◽  
Single Case Study ◽  
Housing Project ◽  
Public Officials ◽  
Housing Projects ◽  
Public Housing Project ◽  
Project Governance ◽  
Governance Practices

The urban public housing project, especially for low-income people, is essential to cater to the increasing urbanisation rate in Malaysia. This study aimed to gain an understanding of the project governance practices in urban public housing projects in Malaysia, which will lead to better project delivery and the successful outcome of the projects. A single case study was conducted on a public housing project or known as Projek Perumahan Rakyat (PPR) in Kuala Lumpur, and data for this study was gathered using semi-structured interviews with six (6) public officials, document analysis, and observation. The findings of this study indicate the positive interplay between project actors guided by the elements of trust, stakeholder management, empowerment, and collective decision making, which create value for the project. Hence, this article contributes to the dynamic understanding of how public officials practice project governance in conducting their works related to urban public housing projects. The findings of the study will enable related public organisations to reinforce the underlying project governance elements towards the strengthening of urban public housing delivery system. Case study research in different models of urban public housing could extend the discovery of other project governance elements while validating the findings of this study from different perspectives. The findings of the study are limited due to the use of a single case study related to the urban public housing project and its contexts.

scholarly journals The Success Criteria of Public Housing Project in Nigeria

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Musa Mohammed Mukhtar ◽  
Roslan Amirudin
Keyword(s):  
Public Housing ◽  
Questionnaire Survey ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Project Success ◽  
Quality Standard ◽  
Housing Project ◽  
Housing Projects ◽  
Public Housing Project ◽  
Success Criteria ◽  
Aesthetic Appearance

There is no consensus among researchers of what constitutes projects success; every project type may have different success criteria. Identifying project success criteria at the initial stage of a project can contribute to effective utilization of resources. The aim of this study is to establish the criteria for measuring public housing project success in Nigeria. The data collection was carried out in Nigeria by means of structured interviews with ten experts in housing, a pilot survey and questionnaire survey.  A questionnaire survey was carried out in which 550 questionnaires were administered to construction professionals who involve in public housing projects, in order to elicit their perceptions on success criteria for public housing projects. The sample was drawn using purposive sampling method since there is no sample frame of people with experience in public housing. Two hundred and seventy six questionnaires (276) were returned completed representing 50.2% response rate. The data collected were analysed using structural equation modelling technique. The results reveal six criteria for measuring public housing project management success, these are client’s satisfaction, project completed on time, project completed to specified quality standard, absence of disputes, safety, and completion within budget. The results also reveal four criteria for measuring public housing product success which include meeting the project purpose, end users’ satisfaction, environmental impact and aesthetic appearance of the . Understanding the findings of this study by policy makers and project managers can improve effectiveness and efficiency of public housing projects in Nigeria.

More Broadly

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Baldwin
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Housing ◽  
Social Housing ◽  
Housing Stock ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Public ◽  
Lower Figure ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Housing Standards

Europeans Often Regard America as a country of bigness: big people, big cars, big houses. People we have already touched on; cars will come. American housing standards do fall in the upper half—but still well within— the European scale. Two rooms per inhabitant is the U.S. average. Residents of Luxembourg, the Netherlands, the UK, and Belgium have more (figure 88) The Irish have a higher percentage of their households occupying at least five rooms, the English and Spanish are very close runners-up. For social or public housing, transatlantic discrepancies pale before even more impressive disparities within Europe itself. Approximately a fifth of all accommodation in England and France is public housing, but those are by far the highest figures in Europe. In Italy, it is only 7%. In Spain, the fraction of the public housing stock of all dwellings is even less than in the United States, namely 1%. According to figures from the OECD, social housing scarcely exists at all in Portugal, at least to judge from the sums the government spends on it. Sweden, a country with a somewhat smaller population, spends well over 500 times as much. In any case, the range of state spending on housing in those nations with figures high enough to register as a fraction of GDP varies from 0.1% in Austria and Luxembourg to 14 times that in the UK. It is hard to call a penchant for social housing a defining European characteristic. Moreover, despite the absence of much public housing in the United States, the poorest fifth of tenants in America pay less of their income for housing than their peers in Sweden or Switzerland, and only a bit more than in the UK. America is oft en considered a stingy helper of Third World nations in distress. It is true that American foreign aid, in the form of direct cash grants, is not impressive if measured per capita. Nor is that of Austria or the Mediterranean nations, except France, which are all lower (figure 89).

scholarly journals Influence of External Environmental Factors on the Success of Public Housing Projects in Developing Countries

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 30-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammed Mukhtar Musa ◽  
Roslan Bin Amirudin ◽  
Trevor Sofield ◽  
Mohammed Aminu Musa
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Public Housing ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Project Success ◽  
Social Factor ◽  
Housing Project ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Housing Projects ◽  
Public Housing Project

External environmental factors, which include political environment, economic environment and social environment, affect the success of public housing projects in developing countries. The purpose of this paper is to establish the effect of these factors on public housing project success using structural equation modelling (SEM) techniques.  The study was conducted in Nigeria by means of interviews, a pilot study and a main survey. Five hundred and fifty (550) questionnaires were administered to construction professionals who work as developers, consultants or contractors and those working in public housing agencies. Two hundred and seventy-six (276) questionnaires were returned completed.  The data collected were analysed by means of SEM. The results reveal that (i) the economics factor significantly affects public housing project success, (ii) the social factor significantly affects public housing project success, and (iii) the political factor significantly affects public housing project success. The study developed a comprehensive model that can assist housing policy makers, consultants, developers, contractors and other stakeholders in the planning and development of public housing programmes. 

scholarly journals THE EFFECT OF PUBLIC TARGET ON THE PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP (PPP) RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
pp. 415-423 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yong Liu ◽  
Yelin Xu ◽  
Ziyou Wang
Keyword(s):  
Public Housing ◽  
Evaluation Model ◽  
Public Private Partnership ◽  
Housing Project ◽  
Delay Effect ◽  
Private Partnership ◽  
Housing Projects ◽  
The Public ◽  
Private And Public ◽  
The Government

A growing importance of public-private partnership (PPP) in public housing projects has drawn much attention. This paper presents a theoretical analysis exploring the effect of the public target on the private’s optimal strategy in a PPP housing project. An option-based model is established to show that an increase in the proportion of public housing will delay the project development. It indicates that the government needs to consider the trade-off between the waiting time and the supply of public housing. On the other hand, due to the delay effect, the expected project value would rise because the private developer is willing to wait for a better environment in the presence of a rise in public housing. Both private and public sector can benefit from this accurate evaluation model and its implications.

scholarly journals From Pathways to Portals: Getting to the Root of a Public Housing Community

2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 70-96
Author(s):  
Nicola Mann
Keyword(s):  
Public Housing ◽  
Urban Renewal ◽  
Living Environment ◽  
Support Networks ◽  
Housing Authority ◽  
Housing Projects ◽  
Chicago Housing Authority ◽  
Late Stages ◽  
Mixed Income

The Chicago Housing Authority is currently in the late stages of a controversial ten-year urban renewal initiative that will see the city’s public housing projects replaced with mixed-income accommodations. Ordered to pack up and leave not only their homes but also lifelong friends and support networks, many project residents have, quite literally, had their roots yanked from beneath their feet. In this essay I employ the iconographic uses of natural imagery present in Kerry James Marshall’s Garden Project paintings (1993-1994) and Daniel Roth’s installation Cabrini Green Forest (2004) to, first, explore the “rooted” attachment of public housing dwellers to their living environment and, second, to consider the desire of many residents to safeguard community landmarks against the threat of demolition.

scholarly journals Social Housing as a State-Funded Mega Project: A Case Study from Saudi Arabia

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyriazis Apostolos ◽  
Evgenios Balasis ◽  
Nikolaos Patsavos
Keyword(s):  
Saudi Arabia ◽  
Social Housing ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Housing Project ◽  
Cultural Economic ◽  
Housing Projects ◽  
Military Conflicts ◽  
Original Insight ◽  
The Arab Spring

There are many kinds of war. They span from typical military conflicts to socially and politically charged environments, from fiscal colonization to ghostly wars about information and the internet. But what about the fear of a possible war? Could housing initiatives be connected to that? What kind of design methods and standards as well as processes would that specific case entail? What other factors would add pressure to studying and implementing housing projects in this context? What could be the possible measure of such projects’ eventual assessment? This paper is based on the assumption that fear of a spreading of the Arab Spring in the Saudi Kingdom triggered a massive state-funded housing project. The ambitious case of Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Housing (MoH) will be discussed and gradually unfolded within its social, cultural, economic, and technical-design conditions. The project’s development is discussed both before its launch-conceptualization and throughout its implementation. The original insight given stems from the authors’ participation as lead urban planners in one of the major companies awarded the project.

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