We should be applauding social housing projects, but resist the rhetoric that sees council housing as the only solution to the housing crisis, says Owen Hopkins.
Donald Trump may have been vanquished, but Trumpism is still alive and well, as evidenced by the 71 million votes he received the highest ever for a US presidential candidate, apart, of course, from his vanquisher, president-elect Joe Biden.
After four years of Trump, we've become used to hearing about right-wing populism, which has spawned manifestations across the world, from Bolsonaro in Brazil and Orbn in Hungary to Boris Johnson in England. But populism is not confined to the right, it is also alive and kicking on the left for whom architecture is central to linking the macro to the micro, just as it is for the right.
A neat illustration of the micro scale can be seen in a new council housing project in Greenwich in south-east London by the British architect Peter Barber, which he recently tweeted out. It's the type of project that would be familiar to anyone who has followed Barber's career since he came to prominence with the Donnybrook Quarter in Hackney in 2006.
Barber's commitment to the social value of architecture has made him an almost sainted figure among the architectural commentariat
Since then, Barber has built a reputation as quite possibly Britain's leading housing architect, renowned for his cleverly planned and generously detailed projects. Aligned with this is Barber's commitment to the social value of architecture, which has made him an almost sainted figure among the architectural commentariat.
As a result, Barber's work is something of an ever-present on social media. So far so familiar, you might say. But what made Barber's tweet about this project catch my eye was that it had been liked a massive 57,000 times and counting.
For anyone active on "architecture Twitter" this is in stark contrast to the recent proliferation of Trumpian "alt-right" accounts which deploy "traditional architecture" as a way of promoting deeply unpleasant far-right views about some kind of mythical "authentic" western values.
Mikhail Riches' Goldsmith Street social housing wins Stirling Prize 2019
So, it was refreshing and not a little bit uplighting to see something so different generate such a response.
Reading the replies, it was striking that many of the people who responded positively did so not just because it is such a well-considered architectural project, but because it is council housing, standing as the built embodiment of collective values that many on the political left hold dear. Those who were critical of the project were generally so for the same reason.
I couldn't help wondering whether what I was seeing here was council housing functioning as cypher for political ideology
Perhaps it's a function of the inherent reductiveness of social media, but I couldn't help wondering whether what I was seeing here was council housing functioning as cypher for political ideology in a way that's not so different to how traditional architecture is used by those "alt-right" Twitter accounts. To be absolutely clear, this is not suggesting a false equivalence between whatever political position one might infer in being pro council housing and the abhorrent views of the "alt-right". Instead, it's about a commonality or equivalence of tactics.
If this sounds a stretch, consider the familiar left-wing "critique" of the housing crisis: the vilification of private landlords, housing developers and the Right to Buy policy introduced by Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government 40 years ago all examples of blame directed at elites. Then, in contrast, is the idea that only the state has the solutions, through tighter regulation and, above all else, a massive council housing programme.
Running through all of this is the attempt to reduce a complex situation to a simple solution think of Trump's exhortations that only he could "Make America Great Again". But at a structural level, this is little different from believing only the state has the answers, a position that, when it comes to architecture, fetishises council housing with the same conviction as the right fetishises traditional styles.
The inescapable question that follows is whether we should still be troubled by these populist tactics when they are used to promote policies we happen to agree with, like building more council housing?
What Barber builds is actually very different to the populist mass council housing building programme advocated by the left
This question becomes more pertinent when we realise the substantial disconnect that exists between this left-wing populist rhetoric and projects by the likes of Barber that it so idolises. What Barber builds is actually very different to the populist mass council housing building programme advocated by the left as the solution to all our housing ills. Barber's projects are generally small in scale, designed by a private practice rather than the public sector, and, like much of the best council housing being built right now, are generally in London.
"London has an ambition for quality public housing design not seen since the 1970s"
The latter is a quirk of the city's sky-high property prices, which allows the more ambitious (and well located) local authorities to use units built for private sale to subsidise those developed for social rents. While this arrangement is a function of councils still being limited by central government, it simply could not happen in a housing market that wasn't so overheated.
Given this, one might wonder whether Barber would actually be able to deliver housing of such high quality if the political situation was more aligned to the one advocated by left-wing populists. It is certainly the case that the highly specific nature of his projects and the way they are tied into their sites on which their success to a significant degree rests would be more difficult to achieve on larger, more comprehensive, "mass" scales.
All this goes to show how little concerned populists whether of the right or the left are with actual architecture
After all, this is one of the key architectural lessons of the post-war era, which judging by much of the council housing going up in London right now is one that almost all of its architects, Barber included, are fully signed up to. This simple fact makes clear just how misguided the populist rhetoric that harks back to those glory days actually is in its naive assumption that our relationships to state, environment and to each other are little changed since the 1950s and 1960s.
All this goes to show how little concerned populists, whether of the right or the left, are with actual architecture. For the right, the only thing that matters is style; for the left, it's council housing and state intervention. Anything else is a betrayal. And it's this insistence on a zero-sum game that is populism's fatal flaw.
Peter Barber Architects creates terraced tenement block in Peckham
The opposite of populism is pluralism, diversity and multiplicity. History tells us that it's the kind of culture that produces the best architecture, not one of conformity. So while we should certainly be applauding council housing projects today and Barber's especially we must resist populist rhetoric that sees council housing as proxy for the state as the only solution to the housing crisis, just as we do the right's weaponisation of traditional styles. A political position that claims it has all the answers leaves no room for innovation or doing things differently.
It's always tempting to look for the easy solution, but we should be immediately suspicious of claims there is only one answer to a problem, as much as we of anyone who says there's only one way to build. While Trump's fall could lead us to think that populism is on the wane, on the ground the fight against populisms of the right and of the left is only just beginning.
Continue reading here:
- Alt-Right Algorithms - YouTubers - Study Breaks - May 29th, 2024 [May 29th, 2024]
- There's No Liberty Under Fascism and No Alternative In Trump - ItsGoingDown.org - May 29th, 2024 [May 29th, 2024]
- The Grotesque Slander of Comparing Gaza Protesters to Neo-Nazis - The New Republic - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- Joe Alt Is A Strong Fit For The Los Angeles Chargers - Sports Illustrated - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- How The Manosphere Of Alt Right Content Targets Boys - BuzzFeed - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- Say Hello To Joe Alt, Future Hall Of Fame Right Tackle - Barstool Sports - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- An Alt-Right Icon Just Gave the Single Dumbest Seinfeld Take Ever - Cracked.com - April 4th, 2024 [April 4th, 2024]
- Ireland & Wales Rugby Fans Take On Alt-Right On Twitter - Balls.ie - February 18th, 2024 [February 18th, 2024]
- Doja Cat Reacts to Backlash Over Alt-Right Comedian T-Shirt: 'It Didn't Affect the World' - TooFab - December 19th, 2023 [December 19th, 2023]
- Doja Cat Responds To Backlash Over Alt-Right T-Shirt: 'It's Not An Attack' - HipHopDX - December 19th, 2023 [December 19th, 2023]
- Marvel and DC Writer Mark Waid Rejects Mark Millar's Call To Root Out Comic Book 'Cancel Pigs', Dishonestly Paints ... - Bounding Into Comics - December 19th, 2023 [December 19th, 2023]
- Maudlin Strangers unveil intense alt rock banger Im Not In The Right Mind [Video] - EARMILK - December 19th, 2023 [December 19th, 2023]
- The Dark Economics of Russell Brand - WIRED - September 23rd, 2023 [September 23rd, 2023]
- Pro-Kremlin Propagandist Ties to White Nationalist Movement ... - Southern Poverty Law Center - September 23rd, 2023 [September 23rd, 2023]
- Opinion | How to Argue Against Identity Politics Without Turning Into ... - The New York Times - September 23rd, 2023 [September 23rd, 2023]
- Anna Wintour: 'I just have to make sure things are being done right' - Financial Times - September 23rd, 2023 [September 23rd, 2023]
- Opinion | Donald Trumps Abortion Shell Game - The New York Times - September 23rd, 2023 [September 23rd, 2023]
- How to Treat Right-Wing Violence in the U.S. - The New Yorker - August 30th, 2023 [August 30th, 2023]
- Scalise, No. 2 House Republican, Says He Has Blood Cancer - The New York Times - August 30th, 2023 [August 30th, 2023]
- Emails reveal Secret Service contacts with Oath Keepers - Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington - August 30th, 2023 [August 30th, 2023]
- How Trump's Election Lies Left the Michigan G.O.P. Broken and ... - The New York Times - August 30th, 2023 [August 30th, 2023]
- Alt Right: A Primer on the New White Supremacy | ADL - March 2nd, 2023 [March 2nd, 2023]
- The Dangerous Subtlety of the Alt-Right Pipeline - March 2nd, 2023 [March 2nd, 2023]
- The Alt-Right Manipulated My Comic. Then A.I. Claimed It. - March 2nd, 2023 [March 2nd, 2023]
- Richard Spencer: Five Things to Know - Anti-Defamation League - February 20th, 2023 [February 20th, 2023]
- From Alt Right to Alt Lite: Naming the Hate - Anti-Defamation League - February 18th, 2023 [February 18th, 2023]
- Alt-right Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com - February 18th, 2023 [February 18th, 2023]
- What Is QAnon, the Viral Pro-Trump Conspiracy Theory? - January 8th, 2023 [January 8th, 2023]
- Benedict XVIs Most Powerful Influence on the Catholic Church Came Before He Was Pope - The New Yorker - January 6th, 2023 [January 6th, 2023]
- Netflix Removed Kanye's 'Harmful Alt-Right Beliefs' From David ... - November 23rd, 2022 [November 23rd, 2022]
- Where Are All the Women on This Alt-Right, Anti-Choice, Toxic ... - November 23rd, 2022 [November 23rd, 2022]
- Forbes Gets Punked - Labels FTX Former CEO's Girlfriend a "New Darling ... - November 23rd, 2022 [November 23rd, 2022]
- Alt-Right Picks Wrong Side in Dutch Farm Crisis - November 23rd, 2022 [November 23rd, 2022]
- La Mirada Chamber Invited Alt-Right Racist to Moderate School Board ... - October 30th, 2022 [October 30th, 2022]
- Hate & Extremism | Southern Poverty Law Center - October 30th, 2022 [October 30th, 2022]
- America First Political Action Conference - Wikipedia - October 25th, 2022 [October 25th, 2022]
- Pepe the Frog - ADL - October 25th, 2022 [October 25th, 2022]
- Paul Joseph Watson - Wikipedia - October 25th, 2022 [October 25th, 2022]
- Jack Posobiec - Wikipedia - October 25th, 2022 [October 25th, 2022]
- QUIET - Wikipedia - October 25th, 2022 [October 25th, 2022]
- Shintaro Abe - Wikipedia - October 25th, 2022 [October 25th, 2022]
- #FireMcMaster, explained. How alt-right media and a handful of | by ... - October 23rd, 2022 [October 23rd, 2022]
- Right-wing politics - Wikipedia - October 23rd, 2022 [October 23rd, 2022]
- Real Viking History and the Imagined White Supremacist Past | Time - October 23rd, 2022 [October 23rd, 2022]
- More Toxic, Alt-Right, QAnonism | No Minister - October 23rd, 2022 [October 23rd, 2022]
- Steve Bannon's influence on conservative politics: Expert on alt-right explains - University of Colorado Boulder - October 23rd, 2022 [October 23rd, 2022]
- Alt-right - Wikipedia - October 17th, 2022 [October 17th, 2022]
- Alt Right: A Primer on the New White Supremacy - Anti-Defamation League - October 17th, 2022 [October 17th, 2022]
- How the Alt-Right Happened - American University - October 17th, 2022 [October 17th, 2022]
- Alt-right pipeline - Wikipedia - October 17th, 2022 [October 17th, 2022]
- Richard B. Spencer - Wikipedia - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- incel Meaning & Origin | Slang by Dictionary.com - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- red pill Meaning & Origin | Slang by Dictionary.com - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- Just The News - Media Bias/Fact Check - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- The Download: TikTok moral panics, and DeepMinds record-breaking AI - MIT Technology Review - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- Roe vs. Trump in the Michigan Midterms - The New Yorker - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- PhD student examines clash of masculine identities on internet hate site - University of Toronto - September 27th, 2022 [September 27th, 2022]
- Clickbait extremism, mass shootings, and the assault on democracy time for a rethink of social media? - The Conversation - September 27th, 2022 [September 27th, 2022]
- By Reading Brainwaves, an A.I. Aims to Predict What Words People Listened to - Smithsonian Magazine - September 15th, 2022 [September 15th, 2022]
- A Case of Rhabdomyolysis in a Young, Morbidly Obese, Asthmatic Woman With COVID-19 - Cureus - September 11th, 2022 [September 11th, 2022]
- Mothers of the movement: Leadership by alt-right women paves the way for violence - The Conversation - September 11th, 2022 [September 11th, 2022]
- An antidemocratic philosophy called 'neoreaction' is creeping into GOP politics - The Conversation - August 2nd, 2022 [August 2nd, 2022]
- How Stop the Steal Captured the American Right - The New York Times - August 2nd, 2022 [August 2nd, 2022]
- Alt Right: A Primer on the New White Supremacy - June 24th, 2022 [June 24th, 2022]
- Will Tehama Sheriff Candidates Ties to Alt-Right Extremists Alarm ... - June 24th, 2022 [June 24th, 2022]
- Racist Great Replacement Conspiracy Went From Alt-Right to Mainstream - June 24th, 2022 [June 24th, 2022]
- Trump and his mob tried to overthrow American democracy and threaten to try again - Ohio Capital Journal - June 24th, 2022 [June 24th, 2022]
- Pacifism is the wrong response to the war in Ukraine - The Guardian - June 24th, 2022 [June 24th, 2022]
- How Culture Went Back to the Middle Ages - ArtReview - June 24th, 2022 [June 24th, 2022]
- FoxO3 restricts liver regeneration by suppressing the proliferation of hepatocytes | npj Regenerative Medicine - Nature.com - June 24th, 2022 [June 24th, 2022]
- The Alt-Right Has Its Very Own TV Show On Adult Swim - June 11th, 2022 [June 11th, 2022]
- The Nation: "The Libertarian Party Goes Alt-Right" - June 11th, 2022 [June 11th, 2022]
- Milwaukee business owners don't all want the RNC - Wisconsin Examiner - June 11th, 2022 [June 11th, 2022]
- Alt-Right Incels at Deep State Daily Stormer Site Celebrate Buffalo ... - June 3rd, 2022 [June 3rd, 2022]
- Alt Right Journalist Whos Lost Every Lawsuit Over Banned Accounts ... - June 3rd, 2022 [June 3rd, 2022]
- PBS, Lincoln Project Label DeSantis, Press Secretary 'Alt-Right' - June 3rd, 2022 [June 3rd, 2022]
- Johnny Depp-Amber Heard Verdict: The Actual Malice of the Trial - The New York Times - June 3rd, 2022 [June 3rd, 2022]
- How To Keep Meat Juicy With Science : Short Wave - NPR - June 3rd, 2022 [June 3rd, 2022]
- What Do Female Incels Really Want? - The Atlantic - May 17th, 2022 [May 17th, 2022]
- 'Well be here again': How tech companies try and fail to prevent terrorism - Protocol - May 17th, 2022 [May 17th, 2022]