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A tower block, block of flats, or apartment block, is a multi-unit high-rise apartment building. In some areas they may be referred to as MDU standing for Multi Dwelling Unit.^{[citation needed]} Image File history File links Derived from public domain images featured at: http://commons. ... Image File history File links Gnome-globe. ... Image File history File links Emblem-important. ... High-rise is a 1975 novel by J. G. Ballard. ... A red brick apartment block in central London, England, on the north bank of the Thames An apartment building, block of flats or tenement is a multi-unit dwelling made up of several (generally four or more) apartments (US) or flats (UK). ...

Apartment blocks have technical and economic advantages in areas with high population density. They have become a distinguished form of housing accommodation in virtually all densely populated urban areas around the world. In contrast with low-rise and single-family houses, apartment blocks accommodate more inhabitants per unit of area of land they occupy and also decrease the cost of municipal infrastructure. Cities with at least a million inhabitants in 2006 An urban area is an area with an increased density of human-created structures in comparison to the areas surrounding it. ... Houses in Fishpool Street, St Albans, England For other meanings of the word house, see House (disambiguation). ... Municipal infrastructure typically includes transportation, sewer, reservoir, potable water supply systems, police stations and local jails, and other infrastructural capital - the built environment - under the jurisdiction of local government. ...

Apartment blocks around the world

United Kingdom

A tower block in Cwmbrân, South Wales

A block of flats in Wythenshawe, Manchester

The three tower blocks of the Crossways Estate in Bow, London

Tower blocks were first built in the UK after the Second World War, in many cases as a "quick-fix" to cure problems caused by crumbling and unsanitary 19th century dwellings or to replace buildings destroyed by accurate German aerial bombing. Initially, they were welcomed, and their excellent views made them popular living places. Later, as the buildings themselves deteriorated, they grew a reputation for being undesirable low cost housing, and many tower blocks saw rising crime levels, increasing their unpopularity. One response to this was the great increase in the number of housing estates built, which in turn brings its own problems. In the UK, tower blocks particularly lost popularity after the partial collapse of Ronan Point in 1968. Some say the city of Glasgow in Scotland contains the highest concentration of tower blocks in the UK - examples include the Hutchensontown C blocks in the Gorbals, the 20-storey blocks in Sighthill, and the 31-storey Red Road flats in the city's north east. However, on the whole, London has the largest amount of high-rise residential buildings in the UK. Download high resolution version (1200x1600, 523 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Download high resolution version (1200x1600, 523 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Cwmbran (Welsh: CwmbrÃ¢n) is a new town in Monmouthshire, Wales, established in the 1950s to provide new employment in the south eastern portion of the South Wales coalfield. ... This article is about the country. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 579 Ã— 599 pixelsFull resolution (765 Ã— 792 pixel, file size: 109 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Park Court flats in Wythenshawe in October 1990. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 579 Ã— 599 pixelsFull resolution (765 Ã— 792 pixel, file size: 109 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Park Court flats in Wythenshawe in October 1990. ... , Wythenshawe is a district in the south of the City of Manchester, in North West England. ... This article is about the City of Manchester in England. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 450 Ã— 600 pixelsFull resolutionâ€Ž (2,112 Ã— 2,816 pixels, file size: 1. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 450 Ã— 600 pixelsFull resolutionâ€Ž (2,112 Ã— 2,816 pixels, file size: 1. ... Bow is an area of East London, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki TÅjÅ Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... 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. ... Ronan Point after the gas explosion. ... For other uses, see Glasgow (disambiguation). ... This article is about the country. ... The Gorbals (Gort a Bhaile in Gaelic) is a predominantly working-class area on the south bank of the river Clyde in the city of Glasgow, Scotland. ... Sighthill is a district in the Scottish city of Glasgow. ...

In recent years, some council or ex-council high-rises in the United Kingdom, including Trellick Tower, Keeling House, Perronet House and The Barbican Estate, have become popular with young professionals due to their excellent views, desirable locations and architectural pedigrees, and now command high prices. After a gap of around 30 years, new high-rise flats are once again being built in Birmingham, Glasgow, Leeds, Cardiff, Liverpool, London, and Manchester however this time for wealthy professionals. Their developers market these properties by using the American term 'apartment buildings', perhaps in an effort to distance these newer buildings from the older tower blocks from the 1950s and '60s. The Trellick Tower, seen from Golborne Road. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Perronet House is a residential block of flats adjacent to the northern roundabout of the Elephant and Castle, in London. ... A small part of the Barbican, showing flats and cafÃ© area Shakespeare Tower, one of the residential towers The Barbican Estate is a residential estate in the City of London, in an area densely packed with commerce and finance. ... This article is about the British city. ... For other uses, see Glasgow (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Leeds (disambiguation) and Leeds City (disambiguation). ... This article is about the capital city of Wales. ... For other uses, see Liverpool (disambiguation). ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... This article is about the City of Manchester in England. ...

United States

Residential High-Rise in Atlanta.

In the United States tower blocks are commonly referred to as midrise or highrise apartment buildings, depending on their height, while buildings that house fewer flats (apartments), or are not as tall as the tower blocks, are called lowrise apartment buildings. Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 450 Ã— 600 pixelsFull resolution (1944 Ã— 2592 pixel, file size: 711 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) I, the creator of this work, hereby grant the permission to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 450 Ã— 600 pixelsFull resolution (1944 Ã— 2592 pixel, file size: 711 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) I, the creator of this work, hereby grant the permission to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation... This article is about the state capital of Georgia. ... Taipei 101, the worlds tallest skyscraper by roof height on high rise. ...

Some of the first residential towers were the Castle Village towers in New York City completed in 1939. Their cross-shaped design was copied in towers in Parkchester and Stuyvesant Town residential developments. Castle Village towers (right) seen from Cabrini Boulevard, looking south from 186 St. ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... Parkchester is a housing development and neighborhood in the New York City borough of the Bronx. ... View of central Manhattan from Stuyvesant Town. ...

The government's experiments in the 1960s and 70s to use high-rise apartments as a means of providing the housing solution for the poor resulted in a spectacular failure. All but a few high-rise housing projects in the nation's largest cities, such as Cabrini-Green and Robert Taylor Homes in Chicago, Penn South in New York and the Desire projects in New Orleans, fell victim to the "ghettofication" and are now being torn down, renovated, or replaced. A local authority tower block in CwmbrÃ¢n, South Wales Public housing or project homes are forms of housing tenure in which the property is owned by a government authority, which may be central or local. ... For other uses, see City (disambiguation). ... Cabrini-Green is one of the most notorious and infamous housing projects in the world. ... Robert Taylor Homes is the name of a housing project in the Bronzeville neighborhood of the South Side of Chicago, alongside the Dan Ryan Expressway. ... Nickname: Motto: Urbs in Horto (Latin: City in a Garden), I Will Location in the Chicago metro area and Illinois Coordinates: , Country State Counties Cook, DuPage Settled 1770s Incorporated March 4, 1837 Government - Mayor Richard M. Daley (D) Area - City 234. ... Midtown Manhattan, looking north from the Empire State Building, 2005 New York City (officially named the City of New York) is the most populous city in the state of New York and the entire United States. ... New Orleans is the largest city in the state of Louisiana, United States of America. ... For the rapper, see Ghetto (rapper). ...

In contrast to their public housing cousins, commercially developed high-rise apartment buildings continue to flourish in cities around the country largely due to high land prices and the housing boom of the 2000s. The Upper East Side in New York City and Chicago's Gold Coast, both featuring high-rise apartments, are the wealthiest urban neighborhoods in the United States. A local authority tower block in CwmbrÃ¢n, South Wales Public housing or project homes are forms of housing tenure in which the property is owned by a government authority, which may be central or local. ... The Upper East Side at Sunset The Upper East Side is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, USA, between Central Park and the East River. ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... The Near North Side is the part of Chicago, Illinois just north of the downtown central business district (the Loop). ...

Ireland

Flats in Ballymun, Dublin.

Tower Blocks are called flat blocks in Ireland. Most of the flats in the country are in Dublin, typically but not exclusively found on the northside of the city, in such areas such as Ballymun, Dublin's inner-city and Coolock. Crime and drug abuse problems are very common in these areas, these problems also exist in flatted areas of Cork City such as Blackpool. Over the last five years the largest cities such as Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway have witnessed apartment building. Some large Towns such as Navan, Drogheda and Mullingar have also witnessed lots of apartments being built. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Ballymun (Irish:Baile Munna), nicknamed The Mun, is an area on Dublins Northside close to Dublin Airport. ... For other uses, see Dublin (disambiguation). ... Ballymun (Irish:Baile Munna), nicknamed The Mun, is an area on Dublins Northside close to Dublin Airport. ... For other uses, see Dublin (disambiguation). ... Coolock (Irish: , meaning The Little Corner) is a large suburban area on Dublin citys Northside in Ireland. ... This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... This article is about the town in England. ... For other uses, see Dublin (disambiguation). ... This article is about the city in the Republic of Ireland. ... This article is about the capital of County Limerick in Ireland. ... WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: , Irish Grid Reference M300256 Statistics Province: Connacht County: DÃ¡il Ã‰ireann: Galway West European Parliament: North-West Dialling Code: 091 Postal District(s): G Area: 50. ... WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: 53. ... WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: , Irish Grid Reference O088754 Statistics Province: Leinster County: Elevation: 1 m Population (2006) - Proper - Environs 28,973[1] 6,117[1] Website: www. ... For the place in Canada, see Mullingar, Saskatchewan. ...

Eastern Europe and Russia

The nicknamed "Chinese Wall" in Belgrade's municipality of New Belgrade, Serbia

See also: Panelák and Plattenbau

Tower blocks in Strogino District, Moscow, Russia

Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... For other uses, see Belgrade (disambiguation). ... Coat of Novi Beograd Novi Beograd (ÐÐ¾Ð²Ð¸ Ð‘ÐµÐ¾Ð³Ñ€Ð°Ð´ - New Belgrade) is a new part of Belgrade located on the left bank of Sava river. ... Not to be confused with Republika Srpska. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Tower block. ... Modernized Plattenbau in Rostock Original East German Plattenbau like it was built in 1980 Plattenbau is the German word for a building whose structure is constructed of large, prefabricated concrete slabs. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (875x656, 82 KB) Summary Commieblocks in Strogino, Moscow. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (875x656, 82 KB) Summary Commieblocks in Strogino, Moscow. ... Residential apartment towers in Strogino District Strogino (Russian: ), formerly known as Ostrogino (), is a district in North-Western Administrative Okrug of Moscow, Russia, located on the right bank of the Moskva River. ... For other uses, see Moscow (disambiguation). ...

Soviet housing

Post Cold-War buildup

Russia is currently undergoing a dramatic buildout, growing a commercially-shaped skyline that wasn't possible under communism.

Middle East

South America

The planned city of Brasilia, capital city of Brazil, was created as a vision of Le Corbusier, and includes some of the most (in)famous apartment block architecture in the world. 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. ... Bras lia is the capital city of Brazil and is located in the center of the country in a federal district created in the state of Goi s. ... Charles-Edouard Jeanneret, who chose to be known as Le Corbusier (October 6, 1887 â€“ August 27, 1965), was a Swiss-born architect and writer, who is famous for his contributions to what now is called Modern Architecture. ...

Asia

Hong Kong apartment,

Tower blocks in Tokyo,

The unpopularity of tower blocks in the UK is in marked contrast to many Asian countries. In Singapore and urban Hong Kong, for example, land prices are so high that almost the entire population lives in high-rise apartments. In fact, over 60% of Hong Kong residents live in apartments, many of them condominiums. Tower Palace in Seoul, South Korea, is the tallest apartment complex in Asia. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 Ã— 536 pixelsFull resolutionâ€Ž (3,872 Ã— 2,592 pixels, file size: 3. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 Ã— 536 pixelsFull resolutionâ€Ž (3,872 Ã— 2,592 pixels, file size: 3. ... For other uses, see Tokyo (disambiguation). ... This article refers to a form of housing. ... View of Tower Palace The Samsung Tower Palace is a group of 7 towers, lettered A-G. They are located at Dogok-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea. ... Short name Statistics Location map Map of location of Seoul. ...

References

This article does not cite any references or sources. (August 2006)
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External links

Sustaining Tower Blocks
World's tallest residential towers
East European blocks of flats today
Photos of Apartment Blocks from around the world
News on the Block - a magazine all about flats

Results from FactBites:

Tower block - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (777 words)
	Tower blocks were first built in the UK after the Second World War, in many cases as a "quick-fix" to cure problems caused by crumbling and unsanitary 19th Century dwellings or to replace buildings destroyed by aerial bombing.
	In the United States tower blocks are commonly referred to as midrise or highrise apartment buildings, depending on their height.
	Tower blocks were utilised by socialist governments to provide affordable housing for its citizens.

More results at FactBites »

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