Vertical by Stephen Graham review – class war from above

Cities are now segregated by height, with the world’s wealthiest living high, argues this fascinating book

Some weeks ago, the director of the Tate galleries, Sir Nicholas Serota, had a spat with people living near Tate Modern that could have come from a satirical novel. They had complained that the gallery’s new 10th-floor public balcony looked directly into their glass-walled flats, which are in a nearby, slightly older tower complex and are each worth up to £19m. Serota tartly replied that the residents should “put up a blind or a net curtain”, “as is common” in most homes.

Related: This brutalist world: from Rotterdam's 'vertical city' to Tokyo's capsule tower – in pictures

Graham’s focus on the malign sides of ever more vertical urban life is powerful and thought-provoking

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