This volume is a late 20th-century retrospect and history of this particular type of housing. For political and institutional reasons it operated as a law to itself for most of its history, but it is now undergoing change and re-integration into mainstream housing and society. The bulk of research and literature on the subject has been from social policy and politics perpectives, and an overall history has not been attempted, other than as chapters or sections of chapters in more general books. This has resulted in a number of omissions - notably the relation of design and management to the quality and performance of public housing, and the role and influence of users (tenants and their families) both in provision, quality and performance. This study explains the importance of council housing to the 20th-century life and culture, both at a personal and a societal level. A major thread running through the book is the interaction of council housing with evolving working-class patterns and aspirations. A wide variety of evidence is used and, notably, this includes journalistic and artistic productions in a variety of media from tenant campaigns and activities.
The story includes today's campaigns and programmes for estate initiatives, including those aimed at poverty and crime and those promoting self management, local economies and the arts.