Author: Simon Elmer

I want to begin with the diagram with which we ended Part 1 of this presentation, which illustrates the connections between the social, the environmental and the economic dimensions of architecture. The terms ‘ecology’, meaning the study of the relationship between organisms and the environment, and ‘economy’, meaning household management, both derive from the same … Continue reading For a Socialist Architecture 3. Part 2: Economic Practices

‘Where did this entire financial phantasmagoria come from? Quite simply, from the way people who could just not afford them were forced into buying nice new houses because they were seduced into taking out miraculous loans. Their promises to repay the loans were then sold on, after having been mixed up with securitisations whose composition … Continue reading For a Socialist Architecture 3. Part 1: Economic Principles

This presentation follows on from Part 1, that looked at the environmental principles of a socialist architecture. In our first presentation in this series we talked about the agents of a socialist architecture: those who pay for it, those who inhabit it, those who use it, those who design it, those who build it, those … Continue reading For a Socialist Architecture 2. Part 2. Environmental Practices

‘We want a say in how the resources are managed in our territory, to remind those who seek to benefit from them that they aren’t a commodity to be sold. Every resource is a part of the system. Each part that is taken out, or over-harvested, affects everything that depends on it. If we don’t … Continue reading For a Socialist Architecture 2. Part 1. Environmental Principles

In Part 1 of this presentation we looked at the political principles of a socialist architecture. In Part 2 I’m going to discuss the political practices through which ASH has implemented these principles in engaging with the political dimension of architecture. 1. The Political Economy of Housing Provision In this first diagram we have two … Continue reading For a Socialist Architecture 4. Part 2. Political Practices

1. The Realism of the Impossible Over the past couple of months I’ve been reading the poetry of Bertolt Brecht, and I’d like to start by quoting one of his poems. He wrote this poem in 1933, the year that Adolf Hitler became German Chancellor with 44 per cent of the vote — which with … Continue reading For a Socialist Architecture 4. Part 1. Political Principles