where they lived

This is a picture of some public housing in England that was demolished. The U.K. has some housing problems that makes the ones in the U.S. pale in comparison. By most accounts, they still have a bubble. We know what happens next, and we know who will get hurt the most.

The Globe did something of a follow-up article on Menino's built legacy that was more positive and objective than the piece by Robert Campbell. Development seems concentrated in core areas of the city, which is to be expected. They cited one statistic that gave me pause: Housing stock increased by 8.6% in the twenty years that Menino was in office. That amounts to about 1,000 units a year, which towers of ilium does not find to be that impressive, and points to the great difficulties associated with getting things built in the city despite the more aggressive approach taken by the former mayor. Also, I agree with Campbell that the housing that was built was primarily luxury class and thoroughly unaffordable by the average city dweller.

When the population of the city was much higher--i.e. in the immediate post-war era--where did all those people live? I suspect that families were larger and density per unit was consequently higher. Now, with more luxury style dwellings, density is lower and the inhabitants are likely to be itinerant.