SOCIAL POLICY AND HOUSING: REFLECTIONS OF SOCIAL VALUES JAMILEH MANOOCHEHRI Development Planning Unit University College London Ph.D. 2009 I, Jamileh Manoochehri, confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. ……………………………….. Jamileh Manoochehri ABSTRACT This thesis set out to find the correlation between social values and standards in social housing in two major milestones in the developments in state-provided housing. The new spirit of optimism after the Second World War was developed by the latter part of the 1960s into the influential Parker Morris report. Having been commissioned by a Conservative Government in 1959 it was made obligatory for social housing in 1967 by the Labour Party in government. The post-war years that heralded the inception of the welfare state in Britain and are often referred to as the Consensus years, are investigated here and found to be centered on a social democratic agenda. In contrast with the above period, the post-1979 years became identified with their embrace of a liberal agenda, formulated by neo-liberal thinkers and politicians. This period which has the hallmarks of what has been referred to as a neo-liberal consensus was identified by the state efforts to reverse the social democratic agenda of the post-war years. Substantial social policy changes can be identified in the two contrasting periods, manifested particularly in the adoption of the universalist approach to social policy in the former with the selectivist approach in the latter period. This thesis investigates the factors that led to changes in standards in social housing in the two periods by searching for correlations between policy changes from universalism to selectivism and the dominant social values of the time. A number of housing estates were selected and the space and environmental standards in them were compared to verify the changes in standards. The political Party manifestos, policy documents, committee papers and recommendations were analysed to find indications of the state’s ideological stance at the given periods. The policy statements and social and housing policies were also analysed to find the correlation between the string of factors that lead from the state to the final built artefact in the form of social values, social policies, housing policies and social housing standards. In order to verify the findings of the research, semi-structured informal interviews were conducted with prominent actors in provision of social housing. In addition two housing estates were studied in detail as case studies of each period. The research found that the periods of ascendancy of social democratic ideology in the state, and social values based on the significance of the collective society and the equality of all citizens led to higher space standards in social housing, while the periods of ascendancy of neo-liberal ideology in the state, and social values based on the significance of individual action based on dominance of market relations led to a drop in social housing standards. A significant finding of this research was the importance of individual actors involved in the provision of social housing and their role in interpreting regulations in favour (or against) promoting higher or lower standards. PhD Thesis - Jamileh Manoochehri 3 Acknowledgements The completion of this project has been made possible through the patient and determined support of my supervisor Ronaldo Ramirez over many years, and the assistance of Dr. Robert Biel who helped it navigate its way through the university requirements. My deepest gratitude goes to my mother, the pillar of our lives, for her warm and selfless support for me and my family especially during the prolonged period of completion of this research, to my son Anoosheh and my daughter Mitra, the joys of my life for patiently sharing their mother’s attention with her research for most of their young lives, to my dear husband without whose invaluable support this endeavour would not have been possible and to my father for being a constant reminder of the value of human passion for knowledge. I am grateful to David Levitt and Neave Brown, whose interviews were a great pleasure as well as being immensely informative. In completing this research I enjoyed extensive co-operation from Directors of Levitt Bernstein Architects, who gave their time generously looking for information through their archives and for discussions. I am also grateful to Clive Clowes for giving his time generously for the interview. I would also like to thank my employers, Dr. Gerard Moran, Dean of Faculty of Art and Design at De Montfort University as well as Dr. Hassan Abdalla for allowing me sufficient study leave in the final months to complete this thesis. PhD Thesis - Jamileh Manoochehri 4 Table of Contents CHAPTER 1 10 INTRODUCTION 10 1.1 RESEARCH FIELD 11 1. 2 THEORETICAL FIELD 15 1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS 19 1.4 RESEARCH PROPOSITIONS 20 1.5 STRUCTURE OF THE THESIS 21 1.6 CONCLUSIONS 24 CHAPTER 2 26 CHRONOLOGY OF MILESTONES IN HOUSING POLICY 26 2.1 SOCIAL HOUSING IN BRITAIN BEFORE 1945 26 2.1.1 SOCIAL HOUSING AND THE TRANSITION FROM THE 19TH INTO 20TH CENTURY 26 2.1.2 SOCIAL HOUSING IN THE FIRST THIRD OF THE 20TH CENTURY – THE TUDOR WALTERS REPORT 31 2.1.3 POST-TUDOR WALTERS REPORT - POLICY CHANGES 35 2.2 EMERGENCE OF A SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC CONSENSUS: 1945-1964 38 2.2.1 UNIVERSALISM VERSUS SELECTIVISM 38 2.3 CONSOLIDATION OF THE SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC CONSENSUS: 1964-1979 45 2.3.1 SOCIAL VALUES, UNIVERSALISM AND SOCIAL POLICIES 45 2.3.2 HOUSING, UNIVERSALISM AND THE PARKER MORRIS REPORT 52 2.4 RISE AND DOMINATION OF A NEO-LIBERAL CONSENSUS: 1980-1997 55 2.4.1 SOCIAL VALUES, SELECTIVISM AND SOCIAL POLICIES 55 2.4.2 POST PARKER MORRIS: HOUSING AND SELECTIVISM 57 2.5 HOUSING STANDARDS – CONTRASTING DECADES 60 2.6 RECENT REPORTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ON HOUSING STANDARDS 67 2.6.1 RECOMMENDATIONS OF TUDOR WALTERS, DUDLEY AND PARKER MORRIS COMMITTEES COMPARED 69 2.6.2 RECENT REPORTS ON HOUSING STANDARDS 79 PhD Thesis - Jamileh Manoochehri 5 2.7 CONCLUSION 82 SOCIAL POLICY, HOUSING AND SOCIAL VALUES: A REVIEW OF LITERATURE 84 3.1 INTRODUCTION 84 3.2 THE STATE AND SOCIAL POLICY AT THE SERVICE OF CAPITAL – A MARXIST VIEW 86 3.3 THE STATE AS ARBITER – THE SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC VIEW 92 3.4 STATE AS FACILITATOR FOR THE MARKET – THE NEO-LIBERAL VIEW 98 3.5 IDEOLOGY AND SOCIAL VALUES 101 3.6 CITIZENSHIP, EQUALITY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE VERSUS MARKET, FREEDOM AND CHOICE 108 3.7 UNIVERSALISM VERSUS SELECTIVISM 119 3.8 A CASE STUDY – EFFECT OF UNIVERSALIST AND SELECTIVIST POLICIES 123 3.9 HOUSING AND QUALITY 127 3.10 CONCLUSION 130 CHAPTER 4 131 THEORETICAL PROPOSITIONS 131 4.1 THE STATE AND IDEOLOGY 132 4.2 EXCHANGE VALUE 138 4.3 DECOMMODIFICATION VERSUS MARKET DOMINANCE 140 4.4 DIALECTICS OF CHANGE 143 4.5 SELECTIVIST OR UNIVERSALIST CONCEPTS - FREEDOM AND CHOICE VERSUS CITIZENSHIP AND ENTITLEMENT 145 4.6 THEORETICAL PROPOSITION 154 CHAPTER 5 160 RESEARCH METHOD AND DATA COLLECTION 160 5.1 RESEARCH PARADIGM AND METHODOLOGY 160 5.2 CHARACTERISTICS OF THE RESEARCH 164 5.3 PROPOSED RESEARCH DESIGN 165 PhD Thesis - Jamileh Manoochehri 6 5.4.1 CONTENT ANALYSIS 166 5.4.2 METHODS FOR CONTENT ANALYSIS 168 5.4.3 DISCOURSE ANALYSIS 169 5.4.4 CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS 173 5.5 PROBLEMS WITH QUALITATIVE RESEARCH 176 5.6 FIELD WORK AND DATA COLLECTION 177 5.6.2 DATA COLLECTION METHODS 178 5.6.4 HOUSING ESTATES – PRELIMINARY RESEARCH 182 5.6.5 POLICY DOCUMENTS AND INTERVIEWS 183 5.7 CONCLUSION 185 CHAPTER 6 187 EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE 187 6.1 INTRODUCTION 187 6.2 SOCIAL VALUES AND SOCIAL POLICY 189 6.2.1 SOCIAL VALUES AND SOCIAL POLICY IN PARTY MANIFESTOS AND POLICY DOCUMENTS: 1945 -1979 191 6.3 SOCIAL VALUES AND SOCIAL POLICY IN PARTY MANIFESTOS AND POLICY DOCUMENTS: 1979 - 1997 201 6.3.1 CONCLUSION 207 6.4 HOUSING POLICIES 208 6.4.1 SIGNIFICANT HOUSING POLICIES IN PARTY MANIFESTOS AND POLICY DOCUMENTS: 1945-1979 209 6.4.2 UNIVERSALISM CHALLENGED – SEEDS OF SELECTIVISM 230 6.4.3 SIGNIFICANT HOUSING POLICIES IN PARTY MANIFESTOS AND POLICY DOCUMENTS: 1979-1997 235 6.4.4 COMPARISONS AND CONCLUSIONS 245 6.5 STUDY OF HOUSING ESTATES 1945-1997 246 6.5.1 ANALYSIS OF SPACE STANDARDS IN EXAMPLES OF HOUSING ESTATE 1945-1997 251 6.6 ANALYSIS OF THE MAIN CASE STUDIES: ALEXANDRA ROAD AND HOLLY STREET (PHASE I) HOUSING ESTATES AND ANALYSIS OF INTERVIEWS 259 6.6.1 ANALYSIS OF SPACE STANDARDS 262 6.6.2 ANALYSIS OF INTERVIEWS 265 6.7 CONCLUSION 275 PhD Thesis - Jamileh Manoochehri 7 CHAPTER 7 277 CONCLUSION AND COMMENTS 277 BIBLIOGRAPHY 283 APPENDICES 304 APPENDIX I – TRANSCRIPT OF INTERVIEWS 304 INTERVIEW WITH DAVID LEVITT (DL) 25TH JULY 2007, LONDON WC1 305 TRANSCRIPT OF CONVERSATION WITH NEAVE BROWN (NB) 312 INTERVIEW WITH CLIVE CLOWES 338 APPENDIX II – MAJOR HOUSING EXAMPLES RESEARCHED 366 ALEXANDRA ROAD ESTATE 366 HOLLY STREET (PHASE I) 376 CHURCHILL GARDENS - PIMLICO 387 ALTON ESTATE – ROEHAMPTON 1954 391 LILLINGTON STREET HOUSING ESTATE 395 ROBIN HOOD GARDENS 397 ROSSETTI COURT, RIDGMONT PLACE – LONDON WC1 - 1993 402 HAWKSMOOR SITE – SHEPHERDS BUSH 1995 406 DOVER COURT – LODGE ROAD LONDON 1997 409 PhD Thesis - Jamileh Manoochehri 8 List of Tables and Figures Figure 2.1 Excerpts from The Architects’ and Builders’ Journal 71 Figure 2.2 Excerpts from The Architects’ and Builders’ Journal 72 Figure 2.3 Layout of Dwellings from 1949 Housing manual 75 Figure 2.4 Layout of Dwellings - The Architects’ Journal, August 1953 75 Table 2.1 - Desirable