The Changing Fabrics of Ordinary Residential Areas

Abstract

An increasing proportion of change to the built environments of Western countries consists of adaptations of existing physical forms. Many changes are small-scale and piecemeal, but cumulatively they have a major impact on the physical character of the environment. This paper considers the physical changes that have taken place in one of the most extensive types of area in English cities: the suburbs created by private enterprise between the two world wars. Within each of the two cities studied, Birmingham and London, the form and density of the original development were major factors influencing the distribution of additional dwellings, demolitions and modifications of existing houses, and the types of new dwelling constructed. Between the mid 1950s and the mid 1960s in London, but a few years later in Birmingham, the insertion of additional houses by developers was the main type of change. From the early 1970s, individual householders became major instigators of change to existing houses, especially in London, where incomes rose more rapidly. House extensions were an important element in this change, despite the decline in household size. The large majority of planning applications for changes to existing houses, but only about one-half of those for the construction of additional dwellings, were approved.