Pruitt-Igoe

Following on from Sara's post below I remember seeing this trailer for the "Pruitt-Igoe Myth". On Rotten tomatoes it's currently at 93%. I t looks like a brilliant documentary. 

The Pruitt-Igoe Myth tells the story of the transformation of the American city in the decades after World War II, through the lens of the infamous Pruitt-Igoe housing development and the St. Louis residents who called it home. It began as a housing marvel. Built in 1956, Pruitt-Igoe was heralded as the model public housing project of the future, "the poor man's penthouse." Two decades later, it ended in rubble - its razing an iconic event that the architectural theorist Charles Jencks famously called the death of modernism. The footage and images of its implosion have helped to perpetuate a myth of failure, a failure that has been used to critique Modernist architecture, attack public assistance programs, and stigmatize public housing residents. The Pruitt-Igoe Myth seeks to set the historical record straight. To examine the interests involved in Pruitt-Igoe's creation. To re-evaluate the rumors and the stigma. To implode the myth.

Trailer below.

Along 4 minute introduction to the film and the project, it refers to the architecture and how maybe it wasn't just the 'architecture' to blame.

Hulme Crescents

In relation to today's lecture and giving it a Manchester context, yesterday I came across the Hulme Crescents. They were a 1970s "streets in the sky" solution following the demolition of the slum housing in this part of Manchester. It's where I live and in fact one of the four massive crescents was situated on the land where my flat is now. This is an interesting documentary about the development. The scale of the buildings is incredible. As highlight by others, it's interesting to see how housing projects such as Park Hill in Sheffield have survived where others were demolished years ago and even, like Robin Hood Gardens in London, are today in the process of being replaced.

Video from YouTube