Estates on the Edge: The Social Consequences of Mass Housing in Northern Europe

Estates on the Edge recounts the decline and rescue of low income government-sponsored housing estates across Northern Europe giving a vivid account of the intense physical, social and organisational problems facing social landlords in five countries. These countries have 5,500,000 social housing units in around 5,000 large, dense, modern flatted estates, about one in three of their social rented stock. These estates house increasingly poor people in declining, mainly outer areas, cut off from urban centres. Many have experienced chaotic decline and sometimes serious disorder. Some have also undergone dramatic transformation and upgrading. The book traces this process of decline and rescue.