4th International Scientific Conference on SOCIAL ...

4th INTERNATIONAL MULTIDISCIPLINARY SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCE ON SOCIAL SCIENCES AND ARTS

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SGEM2017

URBAN PLANNING, ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN

CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS

VOLUME I

ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN

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28 – 31 March, 2017 Extended Scientific Sessions Vienna, Austria HOFBURG Congress Centre

DISCLAIMER This book contains abstracts and complete papers appro ved by the Conference Review Committee. Authors are responsible for the content and accuracy.

Opinions expressed may not necessarily reflect the position of the International


Scientific Council of SGEM.

Information in the SGEM 2017 Conference Proceedings is subject to change without notice. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any

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Copyright © SGEM2017 All Rights Reserved by the SGEM International Multidisciplinary Scientific Conference on SOCIAL SCIENCES and ARTS Published by STEF92 Technology Ltd., 51 “Alexander Malinov” Blvd., 1712 Sofia, Bulgaria Total print: 5000 ISBN 978-619-7105-96-4

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ISSN 2367-5659

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DOI: 10.5593/sgemsocial2017HB51

SGEM INTERNATIONAL MULTIDISCIPLINARY SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCE ON SOCIAL SCIENCES AND ARTS Secretariat Bureau

Phone:

+43 676 3709 478

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Organizers, International Scientific Committee

ORGANIZERS & SCIENTIFIC PARTNERS THE WORLD ACADEMY OF SCIENCES (TWAS)

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EUROPEAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, ARTS AND LETTERS

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THE CZECH ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

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POLISH ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

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SLOVAK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

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SCIENCE COUNCIL OF JAPAN

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RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

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LATVIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

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ACADEMY OF FINE ARTS ZAGREB, CROATIA

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CROATIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES AND ARTS

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ACADEMY OF FINE ARTS AND DESIGN IN BRATISLAVA

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RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF ARTS

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BULGARIAN CULTURAL INSTITUTE - VIENNA, AUSTRIA

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BULGARIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

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SERBIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES AND ARTS

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NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF UKRAINE

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NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF ARMENIA

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ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF MOLDOVA

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MONTENEGRIN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES AND ARTS

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GEORGIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

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TURKISH ACADEMY OF SCIENCES


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EXCUSIVE PARTNER

INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE ARTS, ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN 

 Prof. Lidia Cristea, Romania  Prof.dr. Petras Grecevičius, Lithuania

4th International Multidisciplinary Scientific Conference on Social Sciences & Arts SGEM 2017

 Prof. dr. sc. Sanja Nikčević, Croatia  Prof. Dr. Mark Meerovich, Russia  Prof. Lucio Altarelli, Italy  Prof. Dr-Arch. Sofía Letelier Parga, Chile  Prof. David Bershad, Canada


 Assoc. Prof. Eleni Lapidaki, Greece

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 Assoc. prof. Malvina Russeva, Bulgaria

Section Architecture and Design

POST-WAR HOUSING IN GREAT BRITAIN: HISTORICAL PREMISES, GOVERNMENTAL POLICIES AND CULTURAL TENDENCIES Maria Mikaelyan, PhD student


Polytechnic University of Milan, Italy

ABSTRACT

The paper is part of the ‘Back Home’ research project carried out by a group of PhD students from the Polytechnic University of Milan within the framework of the Paquebot Laboratory. The goal of the present research is to reveal historical premises and sociocultural circumstances that provided the basis necessary for the development of the British post-war housing. As one of the major sociocultural and architectural phenomena in the modern history of Great Britain, the new residential development has been taking shape under the impact of new realities of the post-war life. A descriptive research method has been applied in order to determine the most significant among these realities, such as the exigency of rebuilding and reforming the country immediately after the World War II, economic upheaval of the next two decades, introduction of new governmental policies, multiple cultural tendencies – form the Swinging Sixties to the Electric Eighties –, and an intense critical debate of the period. The study aims to answer the following research questions: what are the preconditions of the British post-war housing phenomenon, and what has determined the emergence of a new generation of architects ready to exploit new approaches to modernism and avant-garde in Great Britain in the 1950s-1980s. Special attention is paid to revealing innovative tendencies of art, fashion, music and cinema, which have transformed the country into the world’s cultural trendsetter for several decades and become a cardinal requirement for the residential development in post-war Great Britain.

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Keywords: post-war housing, Great Britain, residential development, housing policies, British culture INTRODUCTION

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New realities of post-war life: rebuilding and reforming Britain after the Second World War

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One of the crucial characteristics of the immediate post-war years was a comprehensive system of rationing1, maintained till 1954 in order to cope with shortage of raw materials and goods, and to ensure fair distribution of food supplies between all consumers [1]. In 1947, the British economy reached its lowest point, with more than 2.3 million people unemployed and a dramatic monetary crisis. Another major issue was

According to I. Zweiniger-Bargielowska, «Restrictions on food became more extensive after the war with the introduction of bread rationing in 1946 […], and pre-war consumption levels for many foodstuffs were not reached again until after the ending of rationing in 1954» [1: p.10]. 1

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the shortage of housing due to the destruction of more than 4 million houses during the war. The same year was featured by the first post-war baby boom with 850 thousand births per year: «We were surprised to discover that the wider family, far from having disappeared, was still very much alive in the middle of London» [2: p.39].


Immediately after the war the Labour party won the elections and the Attlee government was installed. From 1946, the large programme of nationalisation was put into practice. Including The Bank of England, railways, heavy industry, coal mining and public utilities, it provided a remarkable involvement of the state in the economy [3]. The introduction of the Welfare State, the National Health Service and the project of social housing were the greatest innovations introduced by the Attlee’s cabinet, laying the sociopolitical basis for the prosperity of the next two decades. The National Insurance Act of 1946 established a comprehensive system of social security regarding education, maternity, unemployment, disability, and old age. The National Health Service of 1948 guaranteed free medical service for every citizen. However, shortly thereafter, the government had to cut back some services due to unexpectedly high costs of the social programme.

In 1951, the Conservative Party went back to power, returning the iron and steel industries to private ownership, accepting most of Labour's social reforms, and gaining the «political post-war consensus» [4: p.22]. The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953 became a pivotal moment for restoring optimistic expectations and national pride in the British society. According to F. Beckett and T. Russell, «This is why so much was invested in the coronation […]: it had to do duty for optimism and vision» [5: p.12]. By the middle of the decade the country starts to benefit from a previously unexperienced economic growth. In spite of Britain becoming a fully fledged consumerist society, more than 8% of the population was still bypassed by the affluence, remaining below the poverty line2. Despite Britain still played an important role in international affairs, its status as a superpower was considerably diminished. Several British colonies, such as India, Burma and Ceylon, and later Ghana, Malaya and Kenya, gained their independence. After the Suez crisis of 1956 the country loses its influence in the Middle East. Late in 1962, the American statesman D. Acheson will declare: «Great Britain has lost an empire and not yet found a role» [8: p.61].

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By the mid-1960s, after a decade of constant growth, the British economy features a slowdown. In 1964, the Labour party lead by Harold Wilson came back to power and oversaw a series of social reforms, such as approval of abortion rights and decriminalisation of homosexuality. The increasing success of the feminist beliefs led to the introduction of the Equal Pay Act in 1970, which established the right to equal pay for comparable male and female workers.

The recession of the British economy reached its peak with the oil crisis of the 1970s. The leading industries of the country – shipbuilding, textiles, coal and steel – lost their competitiveness due to low productivity, high labour costs and obsolete technologies. Massive dock strikes in 1966 and 1967 ignited a series of workers protests, which

In their study ‘The Poor and the Poorest’ B. Abel-Smith and P. Townsend reported the poverty growth from 8 per cent to 14 per cent between 1955 and 1965 [6: p.334]. In 1960 7,5 million of Britons «[…] lived below a standard of living determined by the national assistance scales» [7: p.41]. 2

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continued throughout the whole decade, marking the decline of the industrial relations between workers and employers. In 1973 Great Britain joins the European Economic Community (EEC). In 1974, the coal miners’ strikes force the Heath’s Conservative government to introduce the three-day working week, in order to reduce energy consumption, stop inflation and preserve a normal running of society [9: p.36]. The results of this action were rather controversial. Thus, in his monograph ‘The Conservative Party and the Extreme Right 1945-1975’ M. Pitchford claims: «Heath responded to the miners’ industrial action of late 1973 by imposing a three-day working week from January 1974. This action limited energy usage and imposed heavy penalties for non-compliance. Health’s actions affected everybody negatively, but disproportionately hit those least able to cope. […] All that the three-day week achieved was to reinforce the existing image of the governmental impotence» [10: p.186].

Widespread protests of trade unions over the winter of 1978-19793 have brought about the downfall of the Labour government under James Callaghan. According to conservative politician and former Secretary of State for Education and Science K. Joseph, Labour’s trade union legislation had provided the unions with a «militant’s character»: it «[…] bred militants and driven moderates underground» [11: p.138]. Shortly thereafter, the general election of 1979 saw Margaret Thatcher lead the Conservatives back to power. Implementing monetarist policies, the Thatcher’s government began privatizing the industries, which had been nationalised by the Labour Party in the immediate post-war period, and reduced the power of labour unions. The state intervention in the economy and government subsidization were significantly reduced, income taxes were lowered in order to encourage investment [12, 13]. Another key point of Thatcherism was the rejection of Keynesian policies of the previous Labour governments: «During her [Thatcher’s] legendary term she promoted the rule of the market in place of the socially equalizing policies of the government. In the realm of housing policy and finance Thatcher oversaw institutional deregulation, cuts in social housing production, and the sell-off of social housing into the private sector» [14: p.226]. By 1981 the unemployment reached the post-war level4, numerous British firms were facing bankruptcy, and the Conservatives were facing political crisis.

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The Great Britain’s victory in the Falklands War of 1982 became a crucial moment for Thatcher to regain the voters’ confidence and to restore the sense of national pride. In his monograph ‘The Falklands War: Myth and Countermyth’ D. Monaghan states: «[…] the Falklands War was ultimately a personal triumph for Margaret Thatcher. So much was this the case that for many people she became synonymous with the nation whose greatness she had proclaimed» [16: p.36].

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In 1983, the Conservatives win general elections. In the following years the Thatcher’s government will have to deal with the miners’ strike of 1984-1985, with the accentuation of social divisions, as well as with numerous terrorist attacks carried out by

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The largest stoppage of labour since the 1926 General Strike, which occurred in Britain during the winter of 1978-1979, is widely known as the Winter of Discontent. 4 As reported by F. Bayliss and S. Kessler, «Unemployment increased from 1 million in 1979 and to 2,1 million at the end of 1980, to 2,8 million at the end of 1981 and to 3,1 million at the and of 1982. Therefore, unemployment increased more slowly but stayed at over 3 million until 1987» [15: p.41]. https://doi.org/10.5593/sgemsocial2017HB51

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the Irish Republican Army (IRA). In 1985, after a decade of the IRA’s bombing campaign in Britain, Thatcher and the Irish prime minister G. FitzGerald sign the Anglo-Irish Agreement in an attempt to achieve peace in the Northern Ireland. Nevertheless, the ceasefire agreements will not be reached until the mid-1990s.


The period of Thatcherism was one of the most controversial in the history of the postwar Great Britain. Featured by the full-scale socio-economic crisis in its beginning, this period saw substantial economic growth during the mid-1980s, and ended with the new round of recession5 and the rapidly growing gap between rich and poor [17]. Thatcher improved economic health of Britain [13], but was strongly criticised for the «authoritarian populism» [18: p.29] and the extension of control functions over the British society. Swinging London: culture of the new generation

The culture of the post-war Britain, form the Swinging Sixties to the Electric Eighties, has irretrievably changed the sociocultural context of the 20th century. Innovative tendencies of art, fashion, music and cinema transformed the country into the world’s cultural trendsetter for several decades.

The determining factor of the cultural upheaval of the 1960s was a generational one. The so-called baby boomer generation was born in Britain in the immediate post-war years. There were more young people in the British society than ever before [19]. The post-war spirit of hope and optimism changed the attitude to the parental role: «Nothing could dent the unshakeable faith in the future, for each new day was better than before, and women found that they had a genuine role to play in improving everyday existence» [19: p.26]. The new generation was formed in less conservative and more permissive educational paradigm. Another influential factor regards technological advancements of the period. New devices have significantly changed the concept of domestic life, providing more time for leisure activities. The impact of television on the British society was growing constantly from the early 1950s, playing a leading role in formation of new aesthetics of mass culture, especially in the realm of popular music [20, 21].

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American music culture was fundamental to the early development of modern British music [22, 23]. In the 1930s and 1940s, jazz became widely known in Britain. But it was in the 1950s, when two genres of music – the short-lived skiffle (a mix of jazz, folk and blues) and rock and roll – were originally coming from the United States, but newly interpreted by British musicians. According to D. Simonelli, «Skiffle helped to show how rock and roll might become a legitimate British musical form, played by British musicians in British clubs with British values behind their music» [24: p.13]. In 1960, The Beatles were born in Liverpool. They triggered one of the most significant revolutions in the modern culture, which extended well beyond music. Bands like The

According to D.K. Peacock, «From 1981, however, economic growth increased, climbing by 2,9 percent between 1981 and 1987 and placing Britain second to Japan on the international economic league-table. […] Between 1986 and 1988 house prices there increased by 40 percent. This led to a second and, as it proved, rather longer recession in which inflation again increased to 10 percent in 1990» [17: p.23]. 5

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Beatles, The Who and The Rolling Stones spearheaded the so-called British Invasion6, subsequently becoming famous worldwide. The ideas of rebellion and strong individuality have moulded the mentality of the entire generation and influenced fashion, hair styles and behaviours of the 1960s. Coming mostly from the working class, musicians contributed to the formation of the working-class consciousness in the British culture [24: p.19].


By the end of the 1960s, British artists start experimenting with new sounds and developing innovative music. The album ‘Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club’ (1967) by The Beatles became a turning point in the music history and the symbol of avant-garde experimentation in rock music [25]. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, more influences came in Britain from various cultures, the most significant originating from Jamaican and Indian music. This evolution has led to the creation of subgenres and subcultures like glam rock (David Bowie), progressive Rock (Yes, Pink Floyd, Genesis) and heavy metal music (Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple). The end of the 1970s was marked by a new genre coming from the United States – punk rock. The striking contrast between punk subculture and optimistic values of the 1960s hippie movement was mirroring emerging problems of the British society. Iconoclast and anti-establishment bands like Sex Pistols and The Clash spoke out the disillusion of a large part of the British younghood [26]. Talking about his extremely controversial lyrics, the frontman of Sex Pistols J. Lyndon claims: «You don’t write a song like ‘God Save the Queen’ because you hate the English race. You write it because you love them and you’re fed up with them being mistreated» [27: p.158]. Joy Division explored further the nihilistic approach of punk music, becoming widely influential in the evolution of music during the next decade. New wave was a counterpart of punk rock. Songwriters like Elvis Costello, bands like The Pretenders, influence of reggae music in the songs of The Police, and ska revival of The Specials and Madness introduce new possibilities that will be explored in the 1980s.

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Along with the revolution in the realm of musical aesthetics, similar processes were occurring in fashion: the rejection of conservatism and conformity in favour of eccentric individualism and experimentation [28]. From the mid-1950s, rock and roll and jive dancing introduces colourful patterned dresses with wide circle skirts, neo-Edwardian drape jackets of Teddy Boys and tailored jackets, rolled-up jeans and flat shoes of Teddy Girls. Outfits of Rockers (or Leather Boys) mainly consisted of leather jackets and jeans.

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Another significant youth cult – the Mods7 – was born in the early 1960s. Their subculture was associated not only with particular fashion style (tailor-made suits and sports jackets) and music, but with motor scooters and drugs: «For the mods, amphetamines were symbolically enshrined at the heart of their subculture, fitting into a discrete universe, a system of magical correspondence in which all objects – clothes, music, scooters and drugs – had a precise relationship with one another» [26: p.41].

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The term British Invasion refers to the influence of British music on the American culture. Among protagonists of this cultural phenomenon were such groups as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Animals, The Kinks, Herman’s Hermits. 7 The term Mods derives from modern jazz, one of the most listened-to music genres in the mod subculture. https://doi.org/10.5593/sgemsocial2017HB51

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The phenomenon of complex confluence between music, fashion and lifestyle will remain defining for later British subcultures. Designer Mary Quant is an iconic protagonist of the 1960s fashion scene. Creating miniskirts, which enabled women to «run and jump» [29: p.103], as well as tight jersey sweaters, high stockings and bright PVC raincoats, Quant triggered a paradigm shift in fashion trends of her time.


In the 1970s, under the influence of the hippie culture, experimentation with vibrant prints and bold patterns intensifies. Colorful knitwear, flared trousers and bell bottoms, hot pants and maxi skirts, platform soled shoes, natural fibres and polyesters were characteristic fashion trends of the period. The punk subculture has introduced in the fashion of the 1970s elements of ambiguity and provocation: outrageous make-up and hair styles, fluorescent colours in combination with black, multiple zips, chains and safety pins, tartan fabric and leather. Punk style clothing designed by Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren will remain mainstream over the 1980s, alongside with androgynous outfits of New Romantics, Lycra leggings and shoulder-padded jackets.

After the Second World War, new sociocultural tendencies have manifested themselves in the realm of British film-making as well. The New Wave cinema of the late 1950s and early 1960s has become the culmination of this evolutionary process. Attributed to the aesthetics of kitchen-sink realism8, such films as ‘Room at the Top’ (J. Clayton, 1958), ‘Look Back in Anger’ (T. Richardson, 1959), ‘Saturday Night and Sunday Morning’ (K. Reisz, 1960) and ‘A Kind of Loving’ (J. Schlesinger, 1962), focus attention on social issues of the working and middle classes. The British New Wave directors use the stylistic conventions of interactive documentary (cinéma vérité). However, they have been criticised for the lack of strong authorial vision: «[…] their cinema comprised merely adaptations of literary successes, anyway, and therefore subordinated film to novels or plays» [30: p.190].

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Along with the New Wave cinema, the phenomenon of successful commercial filmmaking develops in the 1960s. The iconic ‘James Bond’ series9, based on the Ian Fleming’s spy novels, gained international fame and influenced the popular culture for several decades. Spy fiction television series became mainstream as well: the Bondinspired series ‘The Avenger’s (1961 – 1969) was one of the cult TV shows of its time. A number of cinematic masterpieces of the period have been directed by foreign filmmakers. Roman Polanski’s ‘Repulsion’ (1965), Michelangelo Antonioni’s ‘BlowUp’ (1966) and Stanley Kubrick’s ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ (1968) are among them.

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The 1970s opened with Sam Peckinpah’s ‘Straw Dogs’ (1971) and Stanley Kubrick’s ‘A Clockwork Orange’ (1971), which triggered debate on violent and sexual content. In his essay ‘A Clockwork Orange, Exploitation and the Art Film’ I.Q. Hunter analyses the role of violence in the Kubrick’s film: «A Clockwork Orange staged a debate, with cold intellectual and aesthetic precision, about how to control “natural” violence (embodied

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The term kitchen-sink realism refers to the 1950s–1960s movement in the realm of British visual arts that addresses themes of the working-class everyday life. 9 The first series of James Bond films starring Sean Connery includes ‘Dr. No’ (T. Young, 1962), ‘From Russia with Love’ (T. Young, 1963), ‘Goldfinger’ (G. Hamilton, 1964), ‘Thunderball’ (T. Young, 1965) and ‘You Only Live Twice’ (L. Gilbert, 1967) episodes. 214


in Alex) in order to drive home its moral that free will is preferable to state control of the individual» [31: p.100].


Despite H. Hudson’s ‘Chariots of Fire’ (1981) and R. Attenborough’s ‘Gandhi’ (1982) gaining great success among critics and the public, the beginning of the next decade saw a steep decline in the British filmmaking. The industry suffered from low cinema attendances and restrictive policies of the Thatcher’s government, such as the abolition of the Eady levy – a tax concession intended to support national film production. In the mid-1980s, British cinema will re-emerge on the international cultural scene with the costume drama ‘A Room with a View’ (1985) directed by James Ivory. British post-war housing: new policies, tendencies and critical debate

One of the most significant sociocultural and architectural phenomena of the post-war period – the British housing – is the result of social exigency on the one hand, and concentration of modernist practice and debate in Great Britain on the other hand. The country was facing a considerable shortage of housing over the first two post-war decades. By the mid-1960s, the problem is still unresolved: according to the reports of 1966, «Three million families in Britain today live in slums, near slums or in overcrowded conditions» [32: p.69]. At the same time, the new generation of architects ready to exploit new approaches to modernism and avant-garde was formed in Great Britain in those years. Broad cultural connections gave them multiple options for work, training and exchange of professional knowledge [33].

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In 1944, the Greater London Plan designed by Sir Patrick Abercrombie was released, suggesting the enlargement of metropolitan territory through the development of satellite towns within the Outer Country Ring of London, and the setting up of new relationships between city and territory. Architectural and spatial decisions are now determined by functional reasons. The Dudley Report and the Housing Manual of 1944 introduced new dwelling types, favoured high-rise building and suggested the model of mixed development for residential areas. A complete reorganisation of the public housing system started with the 1947 Town and Country Planning Act, when the local authorities were given powers to purchase land, lease it to private developers or use it to build new social housing units. Thus, the London County Council (LCC) under the leadership of Sir. Isaac J. Hayward develops pioneering planning schemes and dwelling types, and use prefabricated blocks of flats for modern estates.

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The first half of the 1950s is characterized by the development of innovative tendencies in the realms of art and architecture that lead to the formation of new aesthetics of modernism and trigger critical debate on the British cultural scene: «As the center for a reflective, experimental development of modern practices that undertook the challenges of satisfying and responding to a mass public – a welfare state project across the board – Britain’s role in postwar architecture culture was crucially important. Economic exigency and the ethical imperatives of a postwar world created a fertile ground for developments that ranged from popular technological versions of modernism, via attempts to soften or reorganize modernism with the picturesque tradition, to radical avant-gardism» [33: p.11].

In 1951, the 8th International Congress of Modern Architecture (CIAM) was held in Great Britain. A fundamental rhetorical shift in the perception of urban spatiality https://doi.org/10.5593/sgemsocial2017HB51

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Housing Subsidies Act of 1956 introduces a system of governmental subsidies to local councils for buildings higher than five storeys. The subsequent 1961 Parker Morris Report establishes new norms for residential construction in order to satisfy the demand for higher living standards.

Figure 2. R. Hamilton, ‘Just what is it that makes today's homes so different, so appealing?’.

The percentage of high-rise houses increases considerably over the following decade: from 6 000 dwelling units in 1956 to 44 000 in 1966 [36: p.39]. In the second half of the 1960s, low-quality properties and negative social issues of the multi-storey blocks begin to emerge. The decisive event, which had changed the attitude of the British society towards the high-rise typology, was the 1968 Ronan Point disaster – an explosion of the 22-storey block of flats in London resulting from the gas leak. The explosion caused the collapse of several apartments, with 4 residents killed and numerous injured. As a result, the share of multi-storey buildings has fallen dramatically in the following years, leading to the substitution of the typology by low-rise apartment blocks. The publication of the J.G. Ballard’s dystopian novel ‘High-rise’ in 1975 became the final point in the decline of the high-rise housing in Britain.

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One of the major protagonists of the mid-1960s and 1970s British housing was S. Cook, the Camden Borough architect between 1965 and 1973. He managed to gather a strong team of young talented architects including N. Brown, P. Hodgkinson, P. Tabori, G. Benson and A. Forsyth. Rejecting the high-rise block for social housing, Cook was interested in developing the neo-modernist linear stepped-section typology that takes its roots in the traditional English terraced house: «Under the direction of architect Sydney Cook, its [Camden’s] housing department favoured individually designed, low-rise, neo-modernist estates that were frequently very expensively built. Many of them – Alexandra Road, Dunboyne Road, Branch Hill, Highgate New Town, Mansfieled Road, Maiden Lane – have become architecturally famous, while unassumingly carrying on a well-used and (usually) well-maintained council housing stock» [37: p.198]. In 1965, the London County Council was replaced by the Greater London Council (GLC) that incorporated outer suburbs of London and gained an overarching control of


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a large number of policy realms – from social housing, urban planning and transport development, to pollution, employment and public services. By the end of the 1970s, the GLC demonstrated its inability to implement coherent and comprehensive management strategy for the city suffering from the economic plight. In 1983, the Thatcher’s government abolished the left-wing GLC, bringing to an end the British post-war social housing project. Hereinafter, the Conservatives will be strongly criticised for their authoritarian, anti-welfare stance: «They have systematically assaulted institutions associated with welfare-capitalism, the labour movement and middle-class dissent – trades unions, big-city local authorities, council housing estates, nationalised industries, education, the BBC. They have abandoned, without disguise, the consensual ‘arms-length’, understanding on which local authorities, universities and quasi-governmental bodies were run» [17: p.18]. The Thatcher’s 1980 Right to Buy Housing Act gave council tenants permissions to buy their social houses with considerable discounts, triggering the boom in home ownership and, therefore, causing a sharp increase in house prices over the following decade. Conclusion: The historical events, lifestyles, subcultures, artistic trends, and architectural tendencies of post-war Great Britain have fundamentally changed the global sociocultural context of the subsequent decades. The need to rebuild British cities immediately after the war has led to the introduction of the comprehensive planning and housing legislation, and therefore to the beginning of a new period of modern urbanism.

A substantial upheaval in both social and private residential development in Great Britain over the 1950s and 1960s has determined trajectories and directions of architectural development far beyond the country, stimulating advancement in construction technology, generating new housing typologies, introducing new concepts and perspectives into the international architectural discourse. The ideology of the Modern Movement has contributed to the formation of new living standards, associated with technical progress and sociocultural demands of the post-war British society. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

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The present study would not have been possible without the participation and help of my Paquebot Laboratory colleagues G. Semprebon, M. Ignaccolo and D. Fusari. I would also like to express my gratitude to the professors of the Department of Architecture and Urban Studies (DAStU) of the Polytechnic University of Milan, who have participated in the research on the British post-war housing. REFERENCES [1] Zweiniger-Bargielowska I., Austerity in Britain: Rationing, Controls, and Consumption, 1939-1955, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2000. [2] Willmott P., Young M., Family and Kinship in East London, in B. Cottret, M. Hearn, A. Mioche (eds.), Civilization of Modern Britain. Manuel de Civilisation Britannique, 3rd ed., Paris, Bréal, 1957, pp.38-39.

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[3] Seaman L.C.B., Post-Victorian Britain 1902-1951, London and New York, Methuen&Co, 1966. [4] Adams I., Ideology and Politics in Britain Today, Manchester and New York, Manchester University Press, 1998. [5] Beckett F., Russell T., 1956: The Year That Changed Britain, London, Biteback Publishing, 2015.


[6] Pugh M., Speak for Britain! A New History of the Labour Party, London, Vintage Books, 2011.

[7] Whiting R., The Labour Party and Taxation: Party Identity and Political Purpose in Twentieth-Century Britain, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2004. [8] Daddow O. J., Britain and Europe Since 1945: Historiographical Perspectives on Integration, Manchester and New York, Manchester University Press, 2004.

[9] Hoerber T. C., The Origins of Energy and Environmental Policy in Europe: The Beginnings of a European Environmental Conscience, London and New York, Routledge, 2013.

[10] Pitchford M., The Conservative Party and the Extreme Right 1945-1975, Manchester and New York, Manchester University Press, 2011. [11] Shepherd J., Crisis? What crisis? The Callaghan Government and the British 'Winter of Discontent’, Manchester and New York, Manchester University Press, 2013. [12] Collings D., Seldon A., Britain Under Thatcher, London and New York, Routledge, 2013. [13] McCormick J., Comparative Politics in Transition, 6th ed., Boston, Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2010.

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