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Architects for Social Housing Architects for Social Housing __________________________________________________ FOR A SOCIALIST ARCHITECTURE LECTURES AT 221A, VANCOUVER DECEMBER 2019 ‘Communism for us is not a state of affairs that is to be established, an ideal to which reality will have to adjust itself. We call communism the real movement that abolishes the present state of things. The conditions of this movement result from the premises now in existence.’ — Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels 2 © Architects for Social Housing 2019 Contents Preface 5 Lecture 1. The Social Part 1. Social Principles 7 1. Contexts of a Socialist Architecture 9 2. Theoretical Foundations for a Socialist Architecture 11 3. Practical Advice for the Agents for a Socialist Architecture 14 4. Glossary of Housing Terminology and Procedures for Residents 17 5. The Inadequacies of Human Rights 21 Part 2. Social Practices 25 1. Agents for a Socialist Architecture 25 2. The Development Process 27 a. Strategy and Preparation 29 b. Drawing up the Brief 36 c. Design and Planning 41 d. Procurement and Construction 49 e. Management and Maintenance 51 3. Social Principles and Practices for a Socialist Architecture 54 Lecture 2. The Environmental Part 1. Environmental Principles 57 1. Opposed Economies of Architecture 58 2. The Erosion of the Social and the Rise of Environmentalism 60 3. Green Architecture 61 4. Environmental Lobbying and the Grenfell Tower Fire 63 5. Carbon Cost of Demolishing the Aylesbury Estate 67 6. Environmental Costs of Demolishing the Central Hill Estate 69 7. Refurbishment versus Redevelopment 71 8. Environmental Principles for a Socialist Architecture 72 Part 2. Environmental Practices 75 1. Alternative Cycles of Production, Consumption and Waste 75 2. Environmental Practices for a Socialist Architecture 76 3. Regeneration of the Grand Parc Bordeaux 77 4. Regeneration of the Central Hill Estate 79 5. Regeneration of the West Kensington and Gibbs Green Estates 81 6. Regeneration of the Patmore Co-operative Housing Estate 82 7. Solutions to the Climate Emergency 84 © Architects for Social Housing 2019 3 Lecture 3. The Economic Part 1. Economic Principles 89 1. Opposed Economies of Architecture 90 2. The Neo-liberalisation of Housing 91 3. The UK Property and Homelessness Market 94 4. The Capitalist Housing Crisis 95 5. Economic Principles for a Socialist Architecture 97 6. Under Capitalism 99 7. Financial Costs of Housing Development 100 8. Refurbishment versus Redevelopment 101 9. Alternative Economies of Housing Provision 104 Part 2. Economic Practices 105 1. West Kensington and Gibbs Green Estates 106 2. Brixton Gardens Community Land Trust 109 3. The Drive Housing Co-operative 111 4. Economic Practices for a Socialist Architecture 114 5. Questions in Need of Answers 114 Lecture 4. The Political Part 1. Political Principles 117 1. The Realism of the Impossible 117 2. Opposed Economies of Architecture 119 3. The Politics of Architecture 121 4. Party Politics 123 5. Independent Politics 125 6. Political Practice 126 7. Political Principles for a Socialist Architecture 127 8. Towards a Socialist Revolution 128 9. Policies on Housing Development 130 10. Opposed Political Economies of Housing Provision 132 Part 2. Political Practices 134 1. The Political Economy of Housing Provision 134 2. The Moments of Political Agency 137 3. Political Practices for a Socialist Architecture 141 a. Legislation, Policy and Strategic Development 141 b. Urban Design, Master-planning and Brief Development 142 c. Project Design and the Planning Process 144 d. Education, Dissemination and Agitation for Change 146 4. For a Socialist Architecture 149 4 © Architects for Social Housing 2019 Preface Over the summer of 2019, as part of ASH’s research fellowship with 221A, we took up a month’s residency in Vancouver, Canada. Over four lectures held on Friday afternoons between 19 July and 9 August, we presented our thoughts about the necessity and possibility of a socialist architecture under capitalism. 221A invited individuals based in Vancouver to co-present with us at each of these lectures, each of which attracted around 50 visitors. These lectures were conceived as a forum in which we could present to and hear from residents, campaigners, academics, students, architects, environmentalists, planners, economists, developers, politicians and others affected by or involved in the housing crisis, both local and global. In tandem with these lectures, and by the end of the residency, ASH produced the draft text for a book to be titled For a Socialist Architecture. Our aim, with the financial support of 221A, is to publish this book, and make it available not only to people who are threatened by the crisis of housing affordability, but also to policy-writers looking for alternatives to the selling off of public land and housing to private investors, as well as to architects looking for an alternative to the orthodoxies of contemporary architectural practice. After four-and-a-half years of continual practice since we founded ASH in March 2015, these lectures were also a welcome opportunity for us to reflect on what we had and hadn’t achieved, to learn from our successes as well as our failures, and to think about where we wanted to go next and under what guiding principles. The texts published here are based on and expanded from the recordings by 221A of the four lectures we gave in Vancouver, taking into account some of the questions and comments made by the audience, as well as the contributions of our co-presenters. These included Am Johal, the director of community engagement at Simon Fraser University’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement; Daniel Roehr, who teaches landscape architecture at the University of British Columbia; and Ross Gentleman, the former Chief Executive Officer for CCEC Credit Union, a community development credit union in Vancouver. Since each lecture was delivered to a changing audience, there are some repetitions in the text that, given its length and complexity, we have thought it best to retain. We have also responded to developments in housing and architecture since our return to the UK. This text is published on Friday, 13th December, 2019, the day after the UK’s fourth general election this decade, and which like all the others has returned a Conservative Party politician to the office of Prime Minister, but this time with the largest majority in Parliament in over 40 years. We hope this disaster will mark the end of the flirtation of socialists, anarchists and even communists with the Labour Party, which has had its worst electoral defeat since 1935, and that they will now turn to building a political movement of and for the working class. This text is offered as ASH’s contribution to the direction a socialist practice must take in order to build that movement. © Architects for Social Housing 2019 5 ASH would like to thank everyone at 221A for their hospitality, and in particular Jesse R. McKee, the Head of Strategy, who organised our residency in Vancouver with unfailing patience and charm. 6 © Architects for Social Housing 2019 Lecture 1. Part 1. Social Principles Q. ‘Social and environmental issues really matter to me. I want to have real influence but, as an architect, I don’t. A. ’Many architects contact me expressing a similar sentiment. Our profession tends to attract and develop idealists, and that can make some of our work little more rewarding than working on a factory production line. The important thing is to harness your feelings and convert them to a useful energy, rather than harbour frustration. Ideally, the aim should be to align them to your real world of work. ‘Idealism is great but, mixed with naivety, the danger is it will remain unrealised. An architect who, as a student, explored an enticing proposition such as the impact of driverless cars might think they are in a good position to solve these issues in the real world. But architects aren’t normally the people single-handedly entrusted to envision such complex projects. You are more likely to be closer to the action as a politician, planner, campaigner or engineer than an architect. All of these are possible career routes for architects. ‘The other mindset you could develop is to think and act small. What we do is way more results-focused than most professions. Your view may be coloured by the kind of practice you work for and its workload. The everyday can be humbly influential. Even with a simple extension you can aim to develop a highly energy-efficient house, or directly help improve the quality of life of a family. Sure, you can think big and — who knows? — be the © Architects for Social Housing 2019 7 next Steve Jobs. But to do this, you are more likely to need to work alongside, rather than in, architecture.’ — Matthew Turner, architect and careers consultant, Architects’ Journal (2019) Within the overall political and economic context of capitalist democracies today, in which there is a cross-party consensus from the political establishment on the marketisation of housing provision, and whatever party forms a government there is no longer the political will to make the state responsible for housing its citizens, how do we meet the housing needs of an increasingly homeless global population? Is a socialist model of housing provision unsustainable and impossible within capitalist economies? And in the absence of a socialist government — let alone a socialist revolution — on the horizon, what would a socialist architecture look like? Faced with our current global crisis of housing
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