Up in the Air
A History of High Rise Britain
Published on 28. October 2025
Book
Hardback
304 pages
978-1-80429-737-7 (ISBN)
Description
Up in the Air tells the story of Britain's multistorey council housing from its beginnings to the present day. Across the decades, the high rise has symbolised the welfare state for better or worse. Here, Holly Smith takes the residents' perspective, capturing the human side of high-rise Britain. Interrogating the complex inheritance of mid-century urban reconstruction, Smith shows how these buildings became a crucible in which the welfare state was shaped and reimagined.
She examines the scattering of a local community during the construction of Park Hill in Sheffield in the 1950s. The outrage that followed the Ronan Point tower block collapse of 1968. The formation of a pioneering tenants' co-operative in the 1970s to revive a crumbling estate during the closure of the London docks. The advocacy of a National Tower Blocks Network agitating for high-rise safety in the 1980s and '90s. The excitement of early digital culture in a Liverpudlian pensioners' high-rise internet television show in the 2000s and the fierce battle to defend estates from demolition in the 2010s.
Up in the Air is a rich history of political struggle within Britain's most misunderstood buildings. It traces an unfinished battle for housing justice, offering essential lessons for the future of public housing.
She examines the scattering of a local community during the construction of Park Hill in Sheffield in the 1950s. The outrage that followed the Ronan Point tower block collapse of 1968. The formation of a pioneering tenants' co-operative in the 1970s to revive a crumbling estate during the closure of the London docks. The advocacy of a National Tower Blocks Network agitating for high-rise safety in the 1980s and '90s. The excitement of early digital culture in a Liverpudlian pensioners' high-rise internet television show in the 2000s and the fierce battle to defend estates from demolition in the 2010s.
Up in the Air is a rich history of political struggle within Britain's most misunderstood buildings. It traces an unfinished battle for housing justice, offering essential lessons for the future of public housing.
Reviews / Votes
Nothing is more subject to gross generalisation and hostile misrepresentation than the story of British high-rise. Holly Smith's exemplary case studies and judicious summary provide nuance and complexity and genuine insight. If you really want to understand multi-storey Britain - its positives, negatives and contradictions - read this book. -- John Boughton, author of <i>Municipal Dreams</i> Finally, a history of the British high-rise from below - a kaleidoscopic account of the civic activism that has emerged to maintain, control, repair, protect and remember the tower blocks, against the tabula rasa visions of both the past and the present. Up in the Air is both informed and pugnacious, but is dominated by the actions and memories of those who have lived high up, giving voice to their frequently frustrated desire for good, well-maintained, well-built council housing -- Owen Hatherley, author of <i>The Alienation Effect</i> Neither rose-tinted, polemical or cynical, Smith provides us with something much more valuable: the truth. This is a history of people more than buildings: the way the humans that lived in high rises resisted, celebrated and survived amid the architectural ideas and high political theories that have defined our urban built environments since World War II. As such, it serves as a grounded history of Britain, as well as a history of our buildings in the sky. A must-read for anyone interested in the thorny question of housing in the UK. -- Peter Apps, author of <i>Homesick</i> Smith boldly busts the enduring myths of high-rise living in the post-war period to the near present. Shorn of stories of architectural heroism, forensic in exposing craven political motivation, we are instead confronted with the voices so often ignored: those of the tenants, whose complexity, creativity, and communitarianism drive the book's narrative. This is not just for those interested in social and architectural history; everyone concerned with the housing question today will gain from its perspicacity. -- Neal Shasore, author of <i>Designs on Democracy</i> Full of fresh insights and drawing on innovative case studies, Up in the Air is both rigorous history and a meaningful contribution to the vital on-going debate about the need for social housing and how to make sure that it's high quality and sustainable. -- Catherine Croft, Director, Twentieth Century Society [a] meticulous and compelling debut. Up in the Air is a superb history of the tower block - and an urgent reminder of the housing inequality it failed to solve. -- Hannah Sullivan * The Telegraph * An elegant and insightful book * New Statesman *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Illustrations
B/W images throughout
Dimensions
Height: 215 mm
Width: 148 mm
Thickness: 26 mm
Weight
382 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-80429-737-7 (9781804297377)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
10/2025
Verso Books
€29.49
Available for download
Person
Holly Smith is a historian of architecture and protest. She is a Fellow at St John's College, University of Cambridge. Her research has been awarded the Duncan Tanner Prize by Oxford University Press and the Hawksmoor Medal by the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain. She holds a PhD from University College London.