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This principle found expression in, for example, the plans for the Mark 1 new towns, or in the zoning of London's South bank as a single-use 'cultural zone' containing the Royal Festival Hall, the National Theatre, the Hayward Gallery, etc. This 'zoning mentality' came in part from a j ustified desire to separate obnoxious activities, such as heavy industries, from residential areas but, as London's Southbank shows, by the middle of the twentieth century the tidy-minded separation of different land uses had become an accepted norm among planners.

It suggests that those human beings for whom architects and planners create their designs are simply moulded by the environment which is provided for them. , p. 1 5 ) further criticised this theory, arguing that the primary factors determining community life were social, not physical: Of much more importance in explaining neighbourliness are the social facts, first, that the people who lived in the slums had often lived in the same street for several generations and thus had long-standing contacts with their neighbours and kin; and second, that people who suffer economic hardship are prone to band together for mutual help and protection.

Many people living in these clearance areas also wanted to remain in their old homes, even when they were con­ sidered inadequate in terms of the council's criteria of 'fitness'. , p. 3 3 3 ) found out after consulting the local communities: 'Four out of every ten families living in the 1 965-70 clearance areas were very satisfied with their present living condi­ tions; in some areas the proportion was as high as six out of every ten . . ' Yet demolition went ahead. This was not because the local authority deliber­ ately went against people's wishes, for such a view presupposes a cynical interpretation of planners' motives.