UK prime minister David Cameron has revealed plans to bulldoze or overhaul 100 so-called "sink estates", blaming their design for fostering crime and poverty.
Cameron described the country's post-war social housing estates as "brutal" and a "gift to criminals and drug dealers" in an article published in the Sunday Times and on the government's website yesterday.
He pledged to spend £140 million to help "regenerate" or demolish 100 estates, which Cameron said had been designed in a way that created a poverty trap for those living in them.
"Step outside in the worst estates, and you're confronted by concrete slabs dropped from on high, brutal high-rise towers and dark alleyways that are a gift to criminals and drug dealers," wrote Cameron. "The police often talk about the importance of designing out crime, but these estates actually designed it in. Decades of neglect have led to gangs, ghettos and anti-social behaviour," he added. "And poverty has become entrenched, because those who could afford to move have understandably done so."
Under Cameron's proposals, some existing social housing buildings and public spaces could be replaced by private housing developments.
The deserted Heygate housing estate in south London prior to demolition. Photograph by Simon Kennedy
"Existing estates were built at a lower density than many modern developments ? poorly laid-out, with wasted open space that was nei...