Sheffield city living: Are they the tenements of tomorrow? (& other scenarios)

[Draggletail 60]

City living: Are they the tenements of tomorrow?

 

Scenario - Far too many dwellings are eventually built fo the city to sustain.

Many developers and private landlords go bust. Dwellings are seized as assets and sold at auction for what they can get (not very much)

 

Buildings stand empty and are not maintained.

Chavs move in etc etc

 

What do you think? Is this a possible future?

 

Have you any 'Sheffield futures scenarios' you'd like to post?

[chris@25 10]

Why do people think there are too many dwellings being built?

 

We're building far less than we used to, it seems the thing is that they are largely flats in places that people can see rather than houses on the edge of town. I guess if you've never been to Mosborough you might not realise quite how many houses were built there in the 70s, 80s and 90s (answer: a lot).

 

There might be a problem with too many buy to let landlords but they are just as likely to buy Victorian terraced houses as new city centre apartments aren't they?

[Plain Talker 11]

I certainly think we're at saturation point, already, with the city centre flats, yet more are in the pipeline.

 

I honestly do not believe they will be sustainable.

 

According to some posters on this forum, who live in developments in the city centre are already complaining about the antisocial behaviours from other tenants, involving throwing up in communal areas, damage to lifts, etc., just like we experienced when the "streets in the sky" complexes turned into a dystopian slum.

 

I forecast the exact same thing will happen / is already happening.

[goldenfleece 11]

Yep....I think the complexes of flats and apartments will eventually be inner city slums, probably in not too many years time either. Remember how grand and modern the 1950's Inner City housing schemes appeared at the time......most of them are now either demolished or in no go areas......large concentrations of people living on top of each other is a recipe for disaster if the social mix forming the base of the community starts to diversify too much.

[Mattski 10]

This subject comes up periodically and nothing new is ever added except the latest witticism regarding the certain failure of these developments.

 

Please guys, give it a break. Negativity is one thing but purposefully, systematically and repetitivly putting Sheffield and its regeneration down does no good to anyone. You just come across as mean spirited and miserly and happy with nothing but schadenfreude.

 

And the bug difference you all sem to miss is that these are private properties and as such are subject to an entirely different set of factors than their public sector predecessors. For a start, they are designed to be nice not cheap.

 

M

[Zaytsev 10]

I certainly think we're at saturation point, already, with the city centre flats, yet more are in the pipeline.

 

I honestly do not believe they will be sustainable.

 

According to some posters on this forum, who live in developments in the city centre are already complaining about the antisocial behaviours from other tenants, involving throwing up in communal areas, damage to lifts, etc., just like we experienced when the "streets in the sky" complexes turned into a dystopian slum.

 

I forecast the exact same thing will happen / is already happening.

 

 

Which makes the imbecilic re-vamp of Park Hill even more astounding.

[Mathom 10]

I wonder will people want to stay in these 'apartments' once they start to have kids? If so, then it means schools will have to be built in the city centre together with other services. Otherwise they will eventually just become ghettoes for young people and might not stay so sparkly and neat for so long, as they won't be kept as well maintained. It sounds like a lot of them are already being let to students - and why not, as they're close to all the pubs, and if students want to pay more rent for that then why shouldn't they? But it will also mean more deterioration, and more noise, and as these things grow, long term residents might start moving out.

[alchresearch 214]

I wonder will people want to stay in these 'apartments' once they start to have kids?

 

I think these apartments are specifically designed for people who don't want kids. The demographic is changing and there are more and more single people now. If I was looking for a place, I think I'd choose a city centre apartment because it would fit in with my lifestyle.

 

The sanctity of marriage is a thing of the past, so it's only fair to say that three bedroom suburban semis are too.

[pattricia 575]

They are springing up everywhere.Flats, lofts, studio apartments ! Are we getting ready for a childless society in the future ? Seriously though,I do think there is always a call for single persons living quarters.The builders never have them left on their hands and can charge as much as a house.

[Paulmat 10]

This subject comes up periodically and nothing new is ever added except the latest witticism regarding the certain failure of these developments.

 

Please guys, give it a break. Negativity is one thing but purposefully, systematically and repetitivly putting Sheffield and its regeneration down does no good to anyone. You just come across as mean spirited and miserly and happy with nothing but schadenfreude.

 

And the bug difference you all sem to miss is that these are private properties and as such are subject to an entirely different set of factors than their public sector predecessors. For a start, they are designed to be nice not cheap.

 

M

 

I agree completely.

 

@Plaintalker, do you have anything to base your thought that were at saturation point?

 

At all the people who think that there's gonna be a shortage of kids in the future. People aren't gonna live in a city centre appartment all their lives. They'll move out to a house with a garden, and extra rooms when they have kids. Someone else will just move in. It's not like when someone moves out of a house it remains empty for years.

 

And I don't get what the difference is between living in a terraced house or an appartment. It's just the same, except you have your neighbors above and below you instead of at the siddes. Many appartments have more floorspace than terraced houses anyway.

[Bago 10]

This thread reminds me of an article that I came across once. It was about singletons living in the same block in London. Even though there is an increase of single lifestyles, people choose to befriend other singletons like family members. The future will be like as such. Though, I don't see Sheffield becoming like that though, I don't know why. Maybe because it is a nice city to bring up a kid. As compared to some other more cosmopolitan cities. A lot of young moms too. So, it means that family life would be on the increase, than just singletons.

[brailz 10]

This whole thread reminds me of a conversation I had with my (junior) architect brother, who enthused about how 'in the future' we'll all be living in high rise apartments in the city centre and how it will be all really modern and great.

 

Then I asked him about a typical UK family, a bank manger who'd worked his way up through the company by hard work, now married with a wife and three children. Really would the bank manager would be satisfied living in a two/three bed flat on the 18th floor in the middle of a city.....

 

 

I don't think so.... he'll always want the four bedroom detached house in the suburbs.

 

It took a hell of a lot of persuasion, even with everybody else disagreeing with him he still maintained that 'they are the future for everybody'. In the end he conceded that in a few cases they might not be suitable for everyone.

 

What struck me most though was his absolute belief that this is how people MUST live, it was bordering on facist.

 

IMO there is a massive untested social engineering project going on with all these new builds. I'm just going to sit back and see what happens.