Up in the Air

A History of High Rise Britain

Holly Smith

$42.99

Hardback

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English

Verso Books
28 October 2025

Social & cultural history; Homelessness; Urban communities; Urban & municipal planning

Up in the Air tells the story of Britain’s multi-storey council housing its beginnings to the present day. Throughout its history, high rise has been a symbol of the welfare state for better or worse. Here, Holly Smith tells a new story from the perspective of those who lived there, exploring how residents grappled with this brave new world above the old skyline.

Through a series of historical moments based upon prize-winning research, we confront the human story of high-rise Britain. Interrogating the complex inheritance of mid-century urban reconstruction, Smith shows how these buildings became a crucible for the welfare state’s reimagination over the decades.

She traces the scattering of a local community during the construction of Park Hill in Sheffield in the 1950s. The resistance of residents after the Ronan Point collapse of 1968. The formation of a pioneering tenants’ cooperative to revive a crumbling estate during the closure of the Docklands. The rage of a National Tower Blocks Network advocating for high-rise safety in the 1980s and 1990s. The excitement of early digital culture in a Liverpudlian pensioners’ high-rise internet television show in the 2000s. And the fierce battle to defend estates from demolition in the 2010s.

Up in the Air is a rich history of political struggle within Britain’s most misunderstood buildings, offering essential lessons for a reformed social housing compact.

By: Holly Smith
Imprint: Verso Books
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 210mm, Width: 140mm, Spine: 22mm
Weight: 380g
ISBN: 9781804297377
ISBN 10: 1804297372
Pages: 304
Publication Date: 28 October 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Holly Smith is a historian of architecture and protest. She is a Fellow at St John’s College, University of Cambridge. Her research has been awarded the Duncan Tanner Prize by Oxford University Press and the Hawksmoor Medal by the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain. She holds a PhD from University College London.

Reviews for Up in the Air: A History of High Rise Britain

Nothing is more subject to gross generalisation and hostile misrepresentation than the story of British high-rise. Holly Smith's exemplary case studies and judicious summary provide nuance and complexity and genuine insight. If you really want to understand multi-storey Britain - its positives, negatives and contradictions - read this book. -- John Boughton, author of <i>Municipal Dreams</i>