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Borges, J. C. & Marat-Mendes, T. (2019). Walking on streets-in-the-sky: structures for democratic cities. Journal of Aesthetics & Culture. 11 (1), 1-15

J. D. Borges and T. M. Marat-Mendes,  "Walking on streets-in-the-sky: structures for democratic cities", in Journal of Aesthetics & Culture, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 1-15, 2019

@article{borges2019_1734916150565,
	author = "Borges, J. C. and Marat-Mendes, T.",
	title = "Walking on streets-in-the-sky: structures for democratic cities",
	journal = "Journal of Aesthetics & Culture",
	year = "2019",
	volume = "11",
	number = "1",
	doi = "10.1080/20004214.2019.1596520",
	pages = "1-15",
	url = "https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/20004214.2019.1596520"
}

TY  - JOUR
TI  - Walking on streets-in-the-sky: structures for democratic cities
T2  - Journal of Aesthetics & Culture
VL  - 11
IS  - 1
AU  - Borges, J. C.
AU  - Marat-Mendes, T.
PY  - 2019
SP  - 1-15
SN  - 2000-4214
DO  - 10.1080/20004214.2019.1596520
UR  - https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/20004214.2019.1596520
AB  - Streets-in-the-sky were conceptualized by architects Alison and Peter Smithson as collective
space, an articulation between individual and civitas. This essay argues that streets-in-the-sky
are a particularly democratic type of urban element, which also has many positive sustainability potentials. The first use of this concept was in the Smithson’s unbuilt Golden Lane
estate (1952), which became a hallmark in post-WW2 debates over urban structure, domesticity, and social housing. Park Hill, the first streets-in-the-sky estate by Jack Lynn and Ivor
Smith, was a success in the 1960s. The Smithsons continued to explore the idea in several
urban projects, only to put it to built form in Robin Hood Gardens (1968–1972). These estates
have adapted streets-in-the-sky and afterward evolved to very different states of maturity.
While Park Hill is a refurbished Grade II listed building, Robin Hood Gardens is awaiting full
demolition. Streets-in-the-sky were generally abandoned in more recent housing schemes,
but the situation of these estates suggests that no consensus exists as to their urban value.
Here, we analyze streets-in-the-sky at the time of their emergence as a concept. To assess
their cultural, morphological, social, and political implications, we explore their development
in built and unbuilt housing schemes, using the above mentioned case-studies to point out
how streets-in-the-sky evolved, including their possible role in important urban debates of
the present. Since many social housing estates employing streets-in-the-sky have been and
continue to be demolished in redevelopment projects, we aim to understand what losses—
aesthetic, functional, and environmental—may be implied in the decimation of this element
of urban form.
ER  -