The only time that these conditions came to public view was during the cholera epidemic in 1832. It was then that the people became bothered about the conditions of these quarters.

A Board of Health was appointed and it submitted a report on the unhealthy conditions in these areas. But in 1844 Engles writes that nothing was done during these years.

The social life in these quarters was characterized by demoralization, alienation and distress. But Engels recognized them to be endemic to the city building process which was based on the logic of industrial capitalism.