Public High Rise Housing Demolition
The history of public high rise housing is in many ways a blot on the history of the country. In an effort to correct the mistakes made in the latter part of the last century, public high rise housing demolition became a common event.
In the period shortly after the end of World War II and continuing for the next 20 years, the main trend in public housing was to build high rise buildings for low income families and to cram as many families into as small a space as possible. Architects were learning how to make use of the vertical in construction, and buildings that were high attracted notice. Although sociologists were waving their arms and warning of potential problems, few were listening.
For the most part, public high rise housing projects were a dismal failure and the shame of the communities that built them. They became hot beds of crime, drug use, and prostitution as their very design doomed almost any hope of normal family life and left few other choices. The “projects” became another word for the slums and conjured up images of hopelessness and despair. Public housing authorities learned from their mistakes, at least, and public housing has come down out of the sky and attempted to provide, at least, the semblance of normality in its approach.
Now, those high rise monsters, that were once seen as the solution to our public housing problems have to come down. The need to remove so many of them, and their size has made implosion demolition a very common sight in many large American cities. Some of the major projects had as many as 15-20 building built almost side by side. It was certainly a boon to the demolition industry. However, these buildings, that spawned so many problems have created some new ones and the shear number of demolition projects has made it necessary to adapt procedures to deal with them.
One of the new problems generating bad publicity is the increased health risks associated with particulate dispersion after demolition procedures. Recent studies in Chicago, the site of many public high rise housing demolition jobs, has shed light on the health risks. Asthmatics, in particular, have had adverse reactions to demolition procedures. Although it was found that normal wrecking ball demolitions produced particulate levels for longer periods of time, the implosion method produced short term, but very high, spikes.
Counter measures to reduce health risks have included liberal use of wetting prior to demolition operations, covering of debris piles, and even more consideration to wind levels at the time of demolition. These measures have helped, but the problem remains. The public buildings were poorly constructed and the materials used are virtually unsalvageable making “deconstruction” demolition largely impractical. Still, the process goes on as demolition continues to remove this blight on our skylines and our public policy.