Birmingham is enjoying a renewed interest in high-rise living fit to rival that which took place in the second half of the 20th century.
Approaching the city from the north via Spaghetti Junction or taking a longer view from high ground like Barr Beacon or the Lickey Hills, you can clearly see the building of high-rise dwellings was one of the city's key solutions to increased demand for better housing in the post-war period.
Responding to a genuine housing need, Birmingham built close to 500 tower blocks.
Almost half the original blocks have since been demolished and many of those that remain have been updated with mixed results.
In the current period of new high-rise buildings, we might ask ourselves what the difference is between this contemporary take on the often reviled tower block and the originals with their distinctive late 20th-century design.
In Nechells Green, to the east of the city centre, sit the so-called 'Duddeston Four', the first and currently best-preserved tower blocks built in Birmingham.
Completed in 1954, Queens Tower was named in honour of the coronation, epitomising the optimism of the time.
Made of brick and concrete and designed by SN Cooke and Partners, the four X-shaped blocks are 12 storeys high and were known at the time as "Birmingham's Skyscrapers".
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Each block included 66 flats and provided residents with an innovative central refuse collection system and centrally generated heating and hot water.
Thankfully, a 1990s refurbishment has not changed the outward appearance of the blocks.
They remain original in style, a design reminiscent of the great liners of the pre-war years.
With their projecting, bridge-like windows, portholes and white balustrades, every flat has its own balcony.
Three of the four blocks stand relatively close together but the area is green with mature trees and shrubbery and fenced off from surrounding roads with arched gateways, giving the Duddeston Four a sense of exclusivity which is enhanced by their unique design.
Another inner city suburb, Ladywood, was also designated as one of the areas for re-development after the war.
While the 1990s refurbishment of the Duddeston Four has ensured the retention of their unique architectural style, refurbishment of the high-rise blocks in Ladywood has been undertaken with mixed results.
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Chamberlain Gardens is a council estate off Monument Road, in Edgbaston.
Built in the 1960s, largely to the design of the city architect AG Sheppard-Fiddler, the estate retains the large number of mature trees and undulating grassland which belonged to the earlier Victorian houses, landscaping fit to rival the best of Edgbaston's private estates.
Chamberlain Gardens now boasts an outdoor gym, modern playgrounds and courts for ball games.
Originally, the space was used to create imaginative play areas, designed by Mary Mitchell, the city's then landscape architect.
However, to the detriment of their external appearance, the original design of the tower blocks has been compromised by the addition of cladding.
This might have some thermal advantages but there are other ways of achieving this which would respect the integrity of the original design.
No-one would consider cladding any of our grand Victorian or Georgian buildings in the name of what is a currently fashionable.
What is it about late 20th century design that condemns it to makeovers of this kind when the honesty of the original architecture speaks so clearly of the optimism and confidence of the period?
Our final port of call is Curtis Gardens in Acocks Green. The three, 12-storey high-rise blocks have not yet fallen victim to 'prettification'.
Clearly, a programme of refurbishment of the three high-rise blocks has not been undertaken in any concerted way.
More by accident than design, many of the original features remain: the mix of brick and concrete, terracotta screening, balconies and coloured glass panels.
It all needs cleaning and restoration because maintenance has been sorely neglected.
Piecemeal updating of individual flats with, for example, PVC windows and balcony screens has led to a loss of coherence in the appearance of the buildings.
The blocks benefit from screening from the busy Fox Hollies Road by a significant area of mature trees which originally included another of Mary Mitchell's play areas.
All that remains today is a play sculpture by John Bridgeman, one-time head of sculpture at Birmingham School of Art.
Thanks to statutory listing in 2015, the sculpture, known as The Fish, remains as a monument to progressive ideas pervasive at the time.
While high-rise social housing of the late 20th century often attracts a bad press, it seems two issues impact on the possibility of the long-term success of these high-rise homes: landscaping and maintenance.
Tower blocks which are appropriately spaced, well maintained and set in considered landscaping have certainly stood the test of time.
The most successful of these have been refurbished in a manner which both updates the facilities and environment and pays respect to their original design.
Birmingham has entered a new period of high-rise building in the private sector which demonstrates little concern for the environment within which buildings are placed.
Residents pay significant sums for their maintenance.
With adequate maintenance and a respect for the integrity of their original designs, the high-rise housing of the post-war era would be fit to rival, if not surpass, that which is being built across the city today.
Mary Keating represents the Brutiful Brum group which campaigns to preserve Birmingham's remaining Brutalist buildings