According to London mayor Sadiq Khan, one of the consequences of the appalling fire at Grenfell Tower in North Kensington may be that “the worst mistakes of the 1960s and 1970s are torn down.”

This taps into a widespread view that emerges whenever high-rise apartments are discussed in the United Kingdom, and which was expressed with stunning opportunism after the fire by veteran conservative journalist Simon Jenkins and the campaign group Create Streets, which is closely linked to the Tory think tank Policy Exchange.

It is perennially demanded that 1960s and ’70s era buildings are torn down, but in the case of Grenfell Tower this overlooked two important facts. The first is that increasingly, London’s skyline is as dominated by new towers — “luxury flats” and student dormitories — that are often steps backwards to their predecessors in terms of space, air, light, and design.