ABSTRACT
The need for specific amenities for residents as built-in components of successful and sustainable housing is now as widely recognised as it was previously ignored. From the end of World War 2 onwards in public, that is social, housing, as part of a drive to improve public health, large shared open spaces were provided on housing estates, which now had much larger numbers of families housed in flats. This policy became a byword for all that subsequently proved to be misconceived – large areas of unused, unkempt asphalt or grass became breeding grounds for all kinds of anti-social activity. To address this failure the principle of ‘defensible space’, first propounded by Oscar Newman, was enthusiastically embraced, not only as a way of creating secure environments but also because it conveniently reduced the landlord’s obligations in terms of management and maintenance.
