‘A tall storey…but, a fact just the same’: The Red Road highrise as a black box
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Date
2006Author
Jacobs, Jane M
Cairns, Stephen
Strebel, Ignaz
Metadata
Abstract
The advent of state-sponsored mass highrise housing in the post-war period brought
into view a range of issues about the role of technology in everyday life. This paper
draws on approaches in the study of science and technology in order to deepen our
understanding of the socio-technical aspects of such highrise housing, past and
present. We elaborate this thinking empirically by examining a 1960s highrise
development, Red Road, Glasgow. The paper examines the inaugural phase of
development, and the most recent phase of ‘redevelopment’, the first stage of which is
demolition. The paper extends existing accounts of residential highrises generally,
and Red Road specifically, as well as elaborating an alternate analytical framework
for understanding highrise and supertall dwellings.