A housing estate is a medium-to-low density residential area, usually part of a suburb of a town or city in a developed country. It is a common form of residential area in the UK, and is similarly popular in Europe. It is less prominent in countries with lower population densities, such as the USA and Australia. In contrast to high density housing, such as tower blocks, town housing or the older-style rows of terraced houses associated with the industrial revolution, housing estates usually feature detached or semi-detached houses with small plots of land around them forming gardens. Very often, an estate will be built by a single contractor, with only a few styles of house design, so they tend to be very uniform in appearance. This phenomenon is less prevalent in Australia and the US, where estates often feature individual houses each built to a unique design selected by the initial occupier. A residential area is a type of land use where the predominant use is residential. ... Illustration of the backyards of a surburban neighbourhood Suburban redirects here. ... A street in Ynysybwl, Wales, relatively stereotypical of a small town A town is usually an urban area which is not considered to rank as a city. ... A city is an urban area, differentiated from a town, village, or hamlet by size, population density, importance, or legal status. ... World map showing location of Europe A satellite composite image of Europe Europe is geologically and geographically a peninsula, forming the westernmost part of Eurasia. ... Houses in Fishpool Street, St Albans, England For other meanings of the word house, see House (disambiguation). ... A tower block, block of flats or apartment block is a high-rise apartment building. ... A street of British terraced housing In architecture and city planning, a terrace, rowhouse, or townhouse (United States) is a style of housing since the late 18th century where identical individual houses are cojoined into rows. ... The Industrial Revolution is the name given to the massive social, economic and technological change in 18th century and 19th century Great Britain. ... Semi-detached housing (usually abbreviated to semi, as in three-bedroom semi) consists of pairs of houses built side by side as units sharing a party wall and usually in such a way that each houses layout is a mirror image of its twin. ... See also list of house types. ...

Housing estates are the usual form of residential design used in new towns, where estates are designed as an autonomous suburb, centred around a small commercial centre. Such estates are usually designed to minimise through-traffic flows, and to provide recreational space in the form of parks and greens. A New town or planned community or planned city is a city, town, or community that was designed from scratch, and grew up more or less following the plan. ...

In the UK, housing estates have become prevalent since World War II, as a more affluent population demanded larger and more widely spaced houses. In addition, the problems incurred by the early attempts at high density tower-block housing turned people away from this style of living. The resulting demand for land has seen many towns and cities increase enormously in size for only moderate increases in population. This has been largely at the expense of rural and green belt land. There is now much evidence coming to light of a severe and detrimental impact on the environment as a result, partly from the change of land use caused by the estates themselves, and partly because most estates encourage rather than discourage the use of the car for transport. Recently, there has been some effort to address this problem by banning the development of out-of-town commercial developments, and encouraging the reuse of brown field (previously developed) sites for residential building. Nevertheless the demand for housing continues to rise, and in the UK at least has precipitated a significant housing crisis. Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ... For other uses of the word Greenbelt, see Greenbelt (disambiguation). ... A small variety of cars, the most popular kind of automobile. ... In town planning, brownfield land is an area of land previously used or built upon, as opposed to greenfield land which has never been built upon. ...

In Hong Kong public housing estates are built to accomodate the booming population from the 1950s to 70s, and to provide affordable homes for those on low incomes. Rents are cheaper than ordinary housing, and are heavily subsidised, financed by financial activities such as rents and charges collected from car parks and shops within or near the estates. They are usually high-rise, from 7-storey in the 1950s to over 40-storey recently. They are usually located in the remote or less accessible part of the territory, but urban expansion has put some of them in the heart of the urban area. Home Ownership Scheme flats, unlike the public housing estates, are sold to the owners at discounted prices. There are also some tower blocks development with 20 to over 100 20-to-70-storey blocks which are privately developed and owned. Millennia: 1st millennium - 2nd millennium - 3rd millennium Events and trends Technology United States tests the first fusion bomb. ... Events and trends Although in the United States and in many other Western societies the 1970s are often seen as a period of transition between the turbulent 1960s and the more conservative 1980s and 1990s, many of the trends that are associated widely with the Sixties, from the Sexual Revolution... A subsidy is generally a monetary grant given by government in support of an activity regarded as being in the public interest. ... Home Ownership Scheme (居者有其屋計劃), is a housing programme in Hong Kong, selling of apartment flats at a price lower than the market, with subsidies on the land value by the government. ... A tower block, block of flats or apartment block is a high-rise apartment building. ...