Peter Marris’s scientific contributions

Slums are amongst the most obtrusive of social evils. Physical squalor catches the eye; the degradation of human dignity shocks the social reformer, civic pride is outraged, the privileged are uncomfortably reminded of the circumstances in which their fellow countrymen must live. To people who do not live in slums, their demolition seems self-evidently desirable. Yet the slum dwellers themselves often bitterly resent being displaced. Where, as in South Africa, slum clearance is openly undertaken for the protection of the privileged, such a conflict of interests is not surprising. But the conflict also arises where the welfare of the people to be rehoused is the principal aim of policy.