Monolithic architecture of high-rise buildings

In both industrialized and developing countries a certain tendency to put up monumental buildings has produced undesirable results, in terms both of human need and of natural environment. In some areas, this tendency has been intensified by unregulated urban land markets and inflated land values. Massive high-rise buildings can be designated as offices in such a way as to sterilize city life. As apartments, they can break up local 'corner-store' relationships, imprison mothers and young families, and impoverish the imaginative life of a whole generation of children. Such high-rise apartments are particularly unsuitable for first generation migrants from rural areas; they are also unduly costly compared with alternative public policies of land settlement, site preparation, and self help in housing.