The first round of public housing construction was generally pretty remarkable. Modernism began seeping into design considerations in public housing at the same time that cost containment became the overriding principle of design and construction. There was a there was an idea that simple modernist kinds of developments lacked any kind of architectural flourish or any kinds of individuality to to units. And so, you had and then finally, I guess those as I said, those cost containment elements of construction really lent themselves quite well to a modernist kind of architectural design.
Featuring Edward Goetz on his book New Deal Ruins: Race, Economic Justice, and Public Housing Policy. Goetz tells the story of American public housing and then its destruction and dismantling, which took off in the 1980s and accelerated during the 90s under the Clinton Administration’s Hope VI program.
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Check out Light in Gaza: Writings Born of Fire haymarketbooks.org/books/1861-light-in-gaza