ABSTRACT
Modernism has failed in its primary aim to improve the lives of ordinary people. It attempted to achieve too much too quickly. Mass-scale planning did away with traditional urban lifestyles and, street patterns. Mass production and standardization produced bland, often poorly constructed buildings. Technology was pushed beyond its limits, which led to major structural weaknesses. At its best Modernism has worked spectacularly well but it simply does not work in any context in the hands of second-raters. While the man and woman in the street have long been questioning the merits of the new-style architecture, the design profession only really began to smart when Prince Charles launched his attack on contemporary building. The chapter explains own ideas for building a good housing estate were put into practice in a development in Macclesfield. There are few things more ugly and reprehensible than neo-Georgian and Tudorbethan housing estates and neo-Classical, plastic Post-Modernist supermarkets and shopping complexes.
