Even though Scotland was numerically unmatched in its public sector housing provision at the time, 11 public disillusionment came soon after, because quality was not on the agenda. The main causes of tenants’ dissatisfaction12 could have been eradicated through effective management, but the public was unwilling to see beyond the surface of deterioration and was led to believe that 'houses not flats'13 was the way forward.
Unable to find an alternative solution, Scotland launched a vast demolition programme aimed at the legacy of the high-rise era, which means that the majority of affected buildings are razed, most likely before having their cost paid off by the taxpayer.
The density of the high-rise estates as a whole was considerably lower than traditional tenement districts. It was overcrowding and unsanitary conditions that should have been tackled, as high density was shown to be beneficial to the quality of urban life. 14 However, by the time it was realised that the Victorian housing legacy was not devoid of its advantages and redevelopment was accepted as an alternative to demolition, a lot of the tenements were already gone.15
11
Ibid., p.34 Pearl Jephcott, and Hilary Robinson, Homes in High Flats (Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh, 1971), [cited in Alice Coleman, Utopia on Trial - Vision and Reality in Planned Housing, (Shipman, London, 1985)] 13 Alice Coleman, Utopia on Trial - Vision and Reality in Planned Housing, (Shipman, London, 1985 14 Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, (Modern Library ed., New York, 1993), pp.262-265 15 Niven, p.78 12
10