Category: Counter Propaganda

1. Empty Housing In January of this year the Liberal Democrat Party published data gathered from Freedom of Information requests to 276 councils revealing not only the number of empty dwellings in the UK and how long they have been left empty, but the lack of action by local authorities to bring them back into … Continue reading London’s Empty Housing: Causes, Existing Policy, Future Solutions and their Enforcement

https://vimeo.com/215303809 1. Cleaning Up Recently I watched the film iBoy, which was first released by Netflix in January 2017. Based on the 2010 novel by Kevin Brooks, which is set in the fictional Crow Lane estate in South London, the film relocates the story to the Middlesex Street estate in Aldgate, just off the Petticoat … Continue reading iMayor: The Ideology of GLA Housing Policy and the New Policy we need on Estate Regeneration

I’m dreaming dreams, I’m scheming schemes, I’m building castles high. They’re born anew, their days are few, Just like a sweet butterfly. And as the daylight is dawning, They come again in the morning! – Jaan Kenbrovin, I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles (1918) There’s been a lot in the papers and on social media lately about … Continue reading Scheming Schemes: A Street View of Gentrification

Constructed between 1929 and 1931 to house the 60,000 workers employed in the Siemens factory, the Siemansstadt housing estate is located in the Berlin suburbs of Spandau and Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. Working to the masterplan by Hans Scharoun, a number of the world’s most innovative architects of the time, including Walter Gropius, Hans Scharoun, Hugo Häring and Paul … Continue reading Maintain, Refurbish, Invest: Siemensstadt Housing Estate, Berlin

‘The revenge of history is more powerful than the revenge of the most powerful General Secretary.’ – Leon Trotsky How do you mark the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution in a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy in which monopoly capitalism has created the greatest income inequality in Europe, and which, because of this, the … Continue reading Armed Love: Capitalism, Anarchism and the Russian Revolution

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_PHRX1lmAQ On Wednesday afternoon the Labour Party Leader gave his closing speech to the party faithful in Brighton. And to our surprise, the man who for two years has resolutely refused even to refer to the estate regeneration programme being implemented by Labour councils across the country, but most especially in London, finally mentioned the 'R' word. … Continue reading The Labour Party Conference 2017: Housing Policy and Estate Regeneration

ASH first encountered the Architects’ Journal in June 2015 when, together with Fight for Aylesbury and Class War, we organised a protest at the AJ120 Awards, and Will Hurst, at the time the Deputy Editor, appeared among our motley crew of squatters and class warriors resplendent in a navy blue suit, and engaged me in debate. … Continue reading J’ACCUSE! Selected Letters to the Architects’ Journal, June 2015-July 2017

This text was commissioned from ASH by the Guardian’s Housing Network, which subsequently refused to publish it. This is the second time an ASH piece has been commissioned and refused by the Guardian, which since Katharine Viner took over as editor in March 2015 has moved further and further to the political right, and whose … Continue reading 10 Myths about London’s Housing Crisis