Letter from London

摘要

One of the questions asked in the Farrell Review of UK architecture is why housing design is not that great (I am paraphrasing). Some of it is great, of course, but much is not. Indeed most purchasers would run a mile rather than have to live in the hutches provided by companies that are essentially land speculators and marketing operations. Nick Boles, the minister who says he dislikes ugly buildings, has correctly identified mass housing estates as a problem. Unfortunately he has gone on to say that we need to put such estates on Green Belt land. Even if you think it is indeed necessary to do this (include me out), no minister of any political persuasion has told us how you avoid horribly designed developments, further enraging local communities, making them more determined to block development - even the good stuff - whenever it shows signs of making an appearance.