Date: 2024-12-21 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00027338
UK
ECONOMIC ANALYSIS ... 1960s
How History Works: The UK's Forgotten Economic Crisis
ECONOMIC ANALYSIS ... 1960s
How History Works: The UK's Forgotten Economic Crisis
Original article:
Peter Burgess COMMENTARY
Peter Burgess
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The British economy is in… a bit of a mess at the moment… to put it mildly.
Unemployment is rising, salaries are stagnating, houses are unaffordable, cities are going bankrupt, our public utilities are in dire disrepair, and people are covering this shortfall with debt…
But what if I told you that we have actually been here before, and that this slump was set in motion almost 60 years ago, with these… boring British townhouses…
These quintessentially British living quarters are the remnants of a forgotten financial crisis that actually saw house prices become EVEN MORE unaffordable than they are today…
Depending on who you ask, the 1960s was either an era of free love and radical thought, or an overrated blip of colour in a drab decade.
Either way, when it came to the economy, Britain was going through a dark period.
And it was all because of the housing situation.
Victorian architecture and quaint villages were torn up to be replaced by brutalist tower blocks and commercial centres.
Instead of white picket fences, suburbia sprawled with glaring brickwork and factory backdrops.
Architects believed they were paving the way for a utopian vision, where more people could live closer together, with more neighbours, for a stronger community.
In reality, the rapid growth of the housing market almost tanked the country’s finances completely.
And those tower blocks didn’t house any more people than the streets anyway. They needed more space to separate the community housing as per health and safety considerations/
And instead of improving the living conditions of the growing population, the rows of subpar new builds made things worse for everyone.
Transcript