{"id":721013,"date":"2023-11-23T12:34:52","date_gmt":"2023-11-23T12:34:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/?p=721013"},"modified":"2023-12-07T09:09:22","modified_gmt":"2023-12-07T09:09:22","slug":"rowan-moores-new-book-property-is-a-brilliant-rallying-cry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/practice\/culture\/rowan-moores-new-book-property-is-a-brilliant-rallying-cry","title":{"rendered":"Rowan Moore\u2019s new book, Property, is a brilliant rallying cry"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In the 1950s, the private US company Levitt &amp; Sons could complete one house every six minutes. Levittown, New Jersey, grew into a \u2018sociable and lively\u2019 12,000-home suburb, famed for its community spirit and sense of \u2018family cohesion\u2019. It was born of \u2018a rare act of American socialism\u2019, according to <em>Observer<\/em> architecture critic Rowan Moore, author of <em>Property: The Myth That Built the World. <\/em>The 1948 Housing Bill \u2018loosened billions of dollars in credit and gave every American the chance to get one of those five-per-cent-down, 30-year mortgages\u2019. But Levittown was only for white people. Black buyers were turned away, with Levitt claiming that the presence of Black families in the neighbourhood would cause house prices to fall.<\/p>\n<p>Levittown, argues Moore, illustrates how home ownership can be both a source of independence and a powerful weapon. It promises security, freedom and shelter \u2013 and it bitterly amplifies divisions, prejudices and inequalities. Today, in the UK, a quarter of renters (who are disproportionately mixed race, Black or of Bangladeshi or Arab <a href=\"https:\/\/positivemoney.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Positive-Money-Housing-Demographics-Report-April-2023.pdf\">heritage<\/a>) find it difficult to pay rent, compared to just <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/statistics\/english-housing-survey-2021-to-2022-headline-report\/english-housing-survey-2021-to-2022-headline-report\">7 per cent of mortgagors<\/a> who find it difficult to make their monthly repayments. As a result, less than a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/statistics\/english-housing-survey-2021-to-2022-headline-report\/english-housing-survey-2021-to-2022-headline-report\">third<\/a> of renters expect to buy in the next two years. Renters live in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/collections\/english-housing-survey-live-tables\">measurably<\/a> more crowded, unsafe and precarious conditions than owners. Over a <a href=\"https:\/\/england.shelter.org.uk\/media\/press_release\/at_least_271000_people_are_homeless_in_england_today#:~:text=New%20research%20from%20Shelter%20shows,England%20are%20without%20a%20home.\">quarter of a million<\/a> people have no home at all. People are \u2018stranded\u2019, says Moore. It is \u2018a social, political and economic failure of colossal proportions\u2019.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Treating our homes as financial assets is precisely why we are struggling to kickstart climate programmes that might improve their quality, liveability and safety<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><em>Property<\/em> is a brilliant exploration of how we got here, and why the story of Levittown still resonates today. Moore starts with the idea of the \u2018property-owning democracy\u2019, which is rooted in a 17th-century colonial philosophy and became a key British Conservative policy of the 1980s. He charts how this concept prompted \u2018an addiction to house price inflation\u2019 as governments unlocked an explosion of speculative investment into homes and a massive <a href=\"https:\/\/positivemoney.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Positive-Money-Report-Banking-on-Property-March-2022.pdf\">liberalisation of mortgage lending<\/a> in the 1970s and 80s (bigger loans available = more to offer on a home = house prices rise, repeat). And, Moore reminds us, today\u2019s politicians aren\u2019t trying to rebalance this system, but favour \u2018performance-enhancing financial drugs\u2019 (like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbre.co.uk\/insights\/articles\/how-did-the-stamp-duty-holiday-affect-residential-property-sales#:~:text=The%20stamp%20duty%20holiday%20was,of%20up%20to%20\u00a315%2C000.\">tax breaks<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.moneyhelper.org.uk\/en\/homes\/buying-a-home\/help-to-buy-scheme-everything-you-need-to-know\">looser mortgage conditions<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.great.gov.uk\/international\/\">incentives for developers and investors<\/a>), that encourage people to pump yet more money into it \u2013 all while the social housing stock <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/right-to-acquire-buying-housing-association-home\">continue<\/a>s to be sold off.<\/p>\n<p>Moore shows that today\u2019s housing crisis has come from concrete political choices. Its issues run deeper than questions of supply and demand, solved simply by blowing apart planning and building more. \u2018It is a fantasy to think that the markets in property and homes will ever act as freely as those in (say) canned tomatoes,\u2019 he writes. (This point is particularly important, it should be added, when meeting housing targets \u2013 even under current rules \u2013 quickly risks exceeding our <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/englands-housing-strategy-carries-a-high-carbon-cost-unless-politicians-are-willing-to-change-plans-189729\">carbon budgets.<\/a>) Like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jrf.org.uk\/report\/reboot-building-housing-market-works-all\">most housing specialists,<\/a> Moore is calling for change in every aspect of our housing and real estate development system.<\/p>\n<p>For Moore, accepting some degree of state intervention is essential. He champions radical tax reforms, support for homeworking (to smooth housing demand across the country) and a controlled end to planning deadlocks. On this he favours, for example, <a href=\"http:\/\/urbed.coop\/projects\/wolfson-economic-prize\">proposals<\/a> for the compulsory purchase of greenbelt land at a price between its current undevelopable value and full value as land for housing. This would compensate landowners while lowering the cost of creating new homes, parks and infrastructure. Architects, he says, need to help make the new areas appealing and integrated. Complementary ideas for Moore\u2019s menu might be found among more recent work on reforming <a href=\"https:\/\/positivemoney.org\/publications\/banking-on-property\/\">banking<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/civicsquare.cc\/\">scaling community models<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ucl.ac.uk\/bartlett\/public-purpose\/cities-and-place-based-innovation\">urban wealth building<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>There are gaps. <em>Property<\/em> doesn\u2019t look at emerging challenges for our homes as much as their history \u2013 perhaps simply because it\u2019s already bristling with ideas. This means that the green transition, a huge, necessary upheaval to our physical building stock, is not mentioned in detail. This is fundamentally intertwined with the property market \u2013 how can people afford retrofits when they are already spending so much on their homes? Councils face perennial budget <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jrf.org.uk\/report\/housing-affordability-1979-determinants-and-solutions\">cuts<\/a>, leaving them short of funds to upgrade their building stock. Private landlords, whose numbers have nearly doubled since the 1990s <a href=\"https:\/\/positivemoney.org\/2023\/07\/cashing-out-english-landlords-selling-up-in-2023-are-set-to-make-thousands-in-capital-gains\/\">thanks to financialising government policies<\/a>, have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/money\/2023\/jul\/26\/renters-health-at-risk-if-uk-energy-efficiency-rules-delayed-say-campaigners\">lobbied<\/a> hard to repeal energy efficiency standard legislation.<\/p>\n<p>The politically-driven shift towards our homes being treated as financial assets is precisely why we are struggling to kickstart climate programmes that might improve their quality, liveability and safety \u2013 be they retrofits or new building standards. Moore implicitly argues that the de-financialising policy programmes he supports would help, by ensuring that buildings are \u2018well-maintained\u2019, for example, but <a href=\"https:\/\/positivemoney.org\/2023\/08\/unlocking-funding-for-good-green-homes\/\">I would argue<\/a> that many of them are in fact a prerequisite for a just climate transition in the built environment. Other important emerging changes that aren\u2019t covered include the rise in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.versobooks.com\/en-gb\/products\/2985-our-lives-in-their-portfolios-why-asset-managers-own-the-world\">asset managers<\/a> buying up homes, emerging <a href=\"https:\/\/positivemoney.org\/2023\/08\/the-risks-and-rewards-of-ai-in-the-housing-system\/\">technologies that aid house price speculation<\/a> and new <a href=\"https:\/\/www.architectural-review.com\/essays\/outrage\/outrage-proptech\">profit-seeking real estate funding structures<\/a> that all threaten to make the current situation even worse.<\/p>\n<p>But regardless, everyone working in the built environment should be able to tell the story of <em>Property<\/em>. It is an accessible, engaging account of the inner workings of our housing system, with people at the centre of the story, and beautifully illustrated with examples of places and cities around the world. <em>Property <\/em>is a rallying cry for a deep rethink of how we build, buy and manage homes.<\/p>\n<p><em>Property: The Myth That Built the World, by Rowan Moore, is published by<\/em>\u00a0<em>Faber &amp; Faber. PB 336pp<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Martha Dillon is a freelance writer and city climate policy specialist.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the 1950s, the private US company Levitt &amp; Sons could complete one house every six minutes. Levittown, New Jersey, grew into a \u2018sociable and lively\u2019 12,000-home suburb, famed for its community spirit and sense of \u2018family cohesion\u2019. It was born of \u2018a rare act of American socialism\u2019, according to Observer architecture critic Rowan Moore, &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":81280,"featured_media":721113,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"ep_exclude_from_search":false},"categories":[702],"tags":[1722,1155,4746,100645],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Rowan Moore\u2019s new book, Property, is a brilliant rallying cry<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Property: the Myth That Built the World is an accessible and engaging account of the inner workings \u2013 and failings \u2013 of our housing system, writes Martha Dillon\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/practice\/culture\/rowan-moores-new-book-property-is-a-brilliant-rallying-cry\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rowan Moore\u2019s new book, Property, is a brilliant rallying cry\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Property: the Myth That Built the World is an accessible and engaging account of the inner workings \u2013 and failings \u2013 of our housing system, writes Martha Dillon\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/practice\/culture\/rowan-moores-new-book-property-is-a-brilliant-rallying-cry\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Architects\u2019 Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-11-23T12:34:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-12-07T09:09:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cdn.rt.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/11\/23123258\/book-review-1024x684.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"684\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Martha Dillon\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"will hurst\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/practice\/culture\/rowan-moores-new-book-property-is-a-brilliant-rallying-cry\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/practice\/culture\/rowan-moores-new-book-property-is-a-brilliant-rallying-cry\",\"name\":\"Rowan Moore\u2019s new book, Property, is a brilliant rallying cry\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-11-23T12:34:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-12-07T09:09:22+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/f7c23d4772522a5c23d6a2bc36064145\"},\"description\":\"Property: the Myth That Built the World is an accessible and engaging account of the inner workings \u2013 and failings \u2013 of our housing system, writes Martha Dillon\u00a0\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/practice\/culture\/rowan-moores-new-book-property-is-a-brilliant-rallying-cry#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/practice\/culture\/rowan-moores-new-book-property-is-a-brilliant-rallying-cry\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/practice\/culture\/rowan-moores-new-book-property-is-a-brilliant-rallying-cry#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Rowan Moore\u2019s new book, Property, is a brilliant rallying cry\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/\",\"name\":\"The Architects\u2019 Journal\",\"description\":\"Architecture News &amp; Buildings\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/f7c23d4772522a5c23d6a2bc36064145\",\"name\":\"will hurst\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/edb2a9c82cf2d614f0a9a76f486cc4a3\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/05396dc4387bd2a019bed2b5a6c109fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/05396dc4387bd2a019bed2b5a6c109fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"will hurst\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/author\/will-hurst-2\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Rowan Moore\u2019s new book, Property, is a brilliant rallying cry","description":"Property: the Myth That Built the World is an accessible and engaging account of the inner workings \u2013 and failings \u2013 of our housing system, writes Martha Dillon\u00a0","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/practice\/culture\/rowan-moores-new-book-property-is-a-brilliant-rallying-cry","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Rowan Moore\u2019s new book, Property, is a brilliant rallying cry","og_description":"Property: the Myth That Built the World is an accessible and engaging account of the inner workings \u2013 and failings \u2013 of our housing system, writes Martha Dillon\u00a0","og_url":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/practice\/culture\/rowan-moores-new-book-property-is-a-brilliant-rallying-cry","og_site_name":"The Architects\u2019 Journal","article_published_time":"2023-11-23T12:34:52+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-12-07T09:09:22+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":684,"url":"https:\/\/cdn.rt.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/11\/23123258\/book-review-1024x684.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Martha Dillon","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"will hurst","Estimated reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/practice\/culture\/rowan-moores-new-book-property-is-a-brilliant-rallying-cry","url":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/practice\/culture\/rowan-moores-new-book-property-is-a-brilliant-rallying-cry","name":"Rowan Moore\u2019s new book, Property, is a brilliant rallying cry","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-11-23T12:34:52+00:00","dateModified":"2023-12-07T09:09:22+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/f7c23d4772522a5c23d6a2bc36064145"},"description":"Property: the Myth That Built the World is an accessible and engaging account of the inner workings \u2013 and failings \u2013 of our housing system, writes Martha Dillon\u00a0","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/practice\/culture\/rowan-moores-new-book-property-is-a-brilliant-rallying-cry#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/practice\/culture\/rowan-moores-new-book-property-is-a-brilliant-rallying-cry"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/practice\/culture\/rowan-moores-new-book-property-is-a-brilliant-rallying-cry#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Rowan Moore\u2019s new book, Property, is a brilliant rallying cry"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/","name":"The Architects\u2019 Journal","description":"Architecture News &amp; Buildings","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/f7c23d4772522a5c23d6a2bc36064145","name":"will hurst","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/edb2a9c82cf2d614f0a9a76f486cc4a3","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/05396dc4387bd2a019bed2b5a6c109fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/05396dc4387bd2a019bed2b5a6c109fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"will hurst"},"url":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/author\/will-hurst-2"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/721013"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/81280"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=721013"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/721013\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":721109,"href":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/721013\/revisions\/721109"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/721113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=721013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=721013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=721013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}