Concept
Thamesmead was built at the end of the 1960s. Efforts were made to solve the social problems that had already started to affect earlier estates. These were believed to be the result of people being uprooted from close-knit working-class communities and sent to estates many miles away, where they knew nobody. The design of the estates meant that people would see their neighbours more rarely than they would have done in the terraced housing that had been typical in working-class areas. The solution proposed was that once the initial residents had moved in their families would be given priority for new housing when it became available.
Other radical ideas were those of the GLC division architect Robert Rigg, including one taken from housing complexes in Sweden, where it was believed that lakes and canals helped to lower levels of crime and vandalism, mainly among the young. This led to the use of water in the estate as a calming influence on the residents.
Read more about this topic: Thamesmead, History
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