The destruction of living communities has often been the consequence of slum clearance programmes, as people are forced to move to wherever it suits the council to put them - often into modern blocks far away from their own homes.
Some communities have taken matters into their own hands, organised themselves, fought councils and bureaucracies, and eventually hired their own architect and told him to build the kind of house they knew they wanted in the place where they felt at home.
Colin Amery has been visiting some of the places where this has been happening and talking to the residents and their architects.
Producer MICHAEL LAWTON 0 HELPLINES: page 91