As European governments replaced the urban slums of the industrial revolution with massive high-rise, high-density housing projects, each country faced a variety of issues such as re-housing and renewal, urban change, racial tension, and political controversy.

Hovels to Highrise looks at how European governments attempted to avoid the problems of ghettoization suffered in U.S. urban areas. Based on detailed research from five European countries, with close reference to the central housing bodies of each, this study highlights the convergence in housing experience between the countries and the lessons to be learned. Examining the historical developments within each of the different housing systems in both the private and the public spheres, Anne Power analyzes the policy initiatives and the changing structure of social housing.

This is the first study of European housing to focus on the poorest mass housing estates and to document their decline. It is also the first book to trace the development of state-sponsored housing from its earliest voluntary roots and to examine the reversal of government cut-backs and the renewed emphasis on tackling marginalization.