The Aylesbury estate, whose concrete towers, playgrounds and walkways sprawl across 28 hectares (70 acres) of south-east London, has assumed a dual role over the five decades of its existence. Not only is it home to nearly 10,000 people, it also serves a monolithic reminder of the problems of social housing. Hours after winning the 1997 election, Tony Blair rushed to the estate to promise its 7,500 "forgotten people" that they would be among those New Labour would remember as it tackled social exclusion. But over the next few years the Aylesbury became journalistic shorthand for inner-city crime, squalor and deprivation, with the Daily Mail describing a walk around its precincts as "like visiting hell's waiting room". Read the rest of the article on the Guardian website.
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