To believe that change, and in particular the speed of change, is something peculiar to the twentieth century, is an error

In one generation, between roughly  1840 and 1870, Kentish Town was substantially altered from a suburban village, surrounded by fields, into the townscape we see today. To believe that change, and in particular the speed of change, is something peculiar to the twentieth century, is an error, at least where the physical environment is concerned.. Except in a few specific places, like New Town sites, the changes seen by many people today are as nothing compared with the paroxysms of alteration and despoliation weathered by their great-grandparents.

G. Tindall, The fields beneath (1977; 2010 edition), 143

Obviously date from an extinct era where there was no shortage of people to fetch, carry and sweep

As family homes today, these [London terraced] houses do not fulfil modern concepts of good design: four sets of stairs to service no more than eight or so rooms obviously date from an extinct era where there was no shortage of people to fetch, carry and sweep. But the design is otherwise less inconvenient than outsiders suppose. The numerous separate strata, initially reflecting the socially stratified nature of nineteenth-century life, adapt well to the disparate needs of the modern family, who do not necessarily wish to gather in one large circle round the parlour lamp of an evening, or even round the television set modern lighting and heading systems make such unity unnecessary

G. Tindall, The fields beneath (1977; 2010 edition), 121

Land use in London has traditionally been very wasteful, and still frequently is

Judged by continental standards, land use in London has traditionally been very wasteful, and still frequently is. Even today, more than 50 percent of all the land in inner London is actually open to the sky: some it is road space, some park or housing-estate space, but a great deal is individual garden.

G. Tindall, The fields beneath (1977; 2010 edition), 67-8