Would people from the 1970s see today's cities as dystopian?

[TheAverageJoanne]

I was talking to one of our customers this week who's late 60s I'd say. She said that if she had been able to look from the 1970s into 2026 in our town she wouldn't believe it, and would have thought it a dystopian film. That really shocked me. It's giving me the chills actually.

It says M&S in what you quoted?

The photos in this BBC news article - especially the third one down - really bring back the feel of the late 1960s/early 1970s to me:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-43141667

As a child and teenager I loved the 1970s, but 50 years on I can see there were definite but different dystopian elements to that era too.

Utter nonsense 🙄

Yes, born in the 70s and it seems all I ever do is try to look on the bright side of where I live, but the truth is it's completely gone to the dogs.

My home town is now very dystopian, it no longer has a sense of humour, there is no trust. People steal from each other, then lie about it. They don't smile, say hello, give you the time of day. They just don't care, they're only out for themselves.

Worst of all, a lot of them are now defending the youth wearing balaclavas. It just feels all wrong and unsalvageable. Need to move.

I do and see crowded, dirty, tower blocks with no balconies, less parks, schools with no outdoor space, less leisure and pulblic amenities, spitting, dodgy businessesall over what'sleft of a shopping area ... my part of Lindon growing up was working class, but I felt safe, it was clean, people cared and now resembles the Hunger Games approach, or certainly moving that way!

I remember London in the 1970s. The buildings were filthy. The facades look much cleaner now. The smell of fumes wasn't great either.

I read it as Mand S. Now if it had said M& S I wouldn't needed to ask, I thought it was mind because there is always artist impressions and idiotic ideas like an active travel idea they had a while ago. Btw I only bought greengages in M&S.

@Level1469 what's the defence for wearing a balaclava?!

A lot of the causes of the “dystopian” aspects of where I live were caused by 60s & 70s planning decisions e.g.
-demolishing beautiful older buildings & replacing them with less attractive ones that don’t fit with the other buildings in the street
-traffic planning that prioritised people driving (this really surprises me looking back given how few cars there were then) which has had undesirable consequences including making it too dangerous to cycle & play out, air pollution, increasing collisions & making pedestrians use grim underpasses
-neglecting rail so that people have to drive for journeys that would be quicker by train & travel isn’t easy for people who don’t have a car

The big change between my childhood & my DC’s childhood was that I could play out (fewer cars) & they couldn’t. That’s not progress.

People from the 70s, is actually anyone over 50 (with a living memory of it), so a good third of the population. I don’t think most of them feel like they’re living in a dystopia.

Surely not. Did you visit any Northern cities in the 70s?
philmaxwell.org/1970s-liverpool-2/

Oh there are various defences apparently. It's a protection against other balaclava-wearers; some of them have autism spectrum disorders and it helps them feel safe, and one of them while wearing said balaclava did something kind for a member of the public, so they are all of them misunderstood.

Nothing profound to add

But what I remember in the 80s is alot more dog poos everywhere. Nobody picked up after their dogs. Little sundried white turds everywhere. London.

Speaking as someone of the generation mentioned by the OP. No, they wouldn't. On the other hand, they'd be absolutely appalled by the standard of driving.

It's a huge exaggeration to describe any town in the UK as dystopian, surely. My home town is a shadow of its former self but it isn't a place of suffering and misery. It just has fewer shops/markets and has less of a community spirit.

Yes, if they came from the towns destroyed by Margaret Thatcher, as those towns were, on the whole, part of thriving communities in the 1970s.

The mill towns in the north and industrial towns in the Midlands, while not grand, still provided a colourful and thriving lifestyle for those who lived there.

Yes. High streets were more buzzing in the 70s and 80s, now there’s not very much there.

No. The opposite.

We still had the 1960s concrete estates with covered walkways & dark corners that were a magnet for antisocial behaviour, drug use & rough sleeping. They sounded good on paper in the 60's but rapidly became ghettos.

They were regenerated in late 90's early 00's & the walkways & dark alleys were removed & opened up. There were trees & green spaces added & public transport improved so people were less trapped.

The local comp resembled grange hill & most kids left at 14 or 16 with few qualifications. There was a lot of bullying & truancy. The school is now an outstanding rated academy with a specialist SEN/Autism hub.

I look back on photos & videos of the 1979' concrete ghettos & hopelessness of the area & think that was dystopian. The world is definitely a better place now.

All the cameras, with Big Brother watching you, is definitely dystopian.

I was born early 60s. Yes it’s sad how much the high street has disappeared. If you needed something, be it a pint of milk or a pair of socks or a book you had to physically go out and buy it. Now so much is done from our keypads and shops are shuttered or never ending rotation of short lived stores. The only ones that seem to thrive are cafés. Sadly our local mall, once a real shopping destination, started to fail once Debenhams closed down and the pandemic put the nail in the coffin. Now only Boots, H&M, Phase Eight (oddly) and an M&S on the corner next to the train station. The great food court is gone, and while an upmarket restaurant has taken part of the space you access it from outside the mall. The rest are offices, a couple specialist gyms, four banks and an optician. They even did a big rebranding but it took the soul out of it and you now have vast empty spaces. The parking lot , which I use occasionally to access the train station or other shops in the town centre, is oddly empty.

I didn't, no, because I hadn't been born yet.