The Importance Of Social Housing

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In order to progress and develop, to find new solutions for the same problems, to find better, more efficient ways of doing things, there comes a need for reform. This type of reform often occurs during a seismic shift in the socio-political fabric of a place, when we are faced with an unprecedented challenge that needs to be solved. The two world wars of the 20th century and the destruction they caused changed human perspective and amongst its many impacts, changed the way architecture and most importantly, social housing was designed. The Second World War, especially, produced mass destruction on a scale incomparable to that of the First. The result was vast expanses of wasteland, not only from bombardment but also from land combat. One out of every twenty buildings was destroyed, one out of every five damaged and a total loss of 1.2 million homes led to the housing crisis that followed . As a result, reconstruction came to the forefront of political discussion, leading to a period of architectural discovery and experimentation, and what many architectural historians have dubbed “the golden age of social housing” . A critical voice in this housing debate was Le Corbusier, who proposed radical solutions to the housing crisis, challenging the way housing and the urban neighbourhood was thought about. His proposal for La Ville Radieuse in 1935 and his realized ideal for social housing in the form of the Unité d’habitation in Marseille have both, been praised for their