Task 2_Manifesto

We are building a community: encouraging communities to DIY and group build homes.

We encourage communities to self-build, this means cases ‘where the first occupants arrange for the building of their own dwelling and, in various ways, participate in its production’ (Duncan and Rowe, 1993, 1331). This allows the household and communities to take back the control over what is happening around them. When discussing self-build often times the benefits are assigned to the individual who is undertaking the project, this time the discussion will focus on the benefits for a community of self-build households. Undertaking a in-depth analysis of the process of community self-building from assembling a community of individual household who share their values, the design stages, to the final stage of occupation, the aim is to encourage more people to join the eco-self-build-community-housing revolution.

Together we are stronger: sharing knowledge and neighbourhood commons.
Shared ownership, shared values, shares recourses and shared responsibility are the big advantages a self-build-community-housing provides. Exploring the different types of ownership for the community housing project will show how affordability can be achieved. Shared resources also contribute to affordability, physical materials are cheaper when purchased in big quantities. The key resource is the knowledge which can be shared along the households and wider community to make this process more popular and easier. An important aspect of the community building is the values they share, its key to find households who share similar values to co-operate on during the design and construction as well as co-live after the project is complete. Shared responsibility means that the individuals who form the community will take responsibility for the project, they can of course employ a professional such as an architect or a project manger but ultimately all members of the community have to be involved in the project to feel responsible and proud of their accomplishment. Although this is a more physiological aspect, if individuals contribute to the process and the complete project they will care and feel responsible for their community.

We are solving the housing crisis: building affordable and sustainable housing though co-production and collaboration.

One of the courses of the current housing crisis is the shortage of supply, this can be traced all the way back to 70’s and the economic problems of that time, since then the situation has been getting worse and the housing market becoming more exclusive. Currently the housing market can not keep up with demand, this results in multiple problems such as high property prices, high rents and young people being unable to get onto the property leader. The solution to this problem can be self-build, the conditions of the housing crisis have increased the government’s interest in this strategy. A strategy which can resolve the demand/supply problem, add affordability to the market and therefore make the market more competitive. Furthermore, unlike the large developers, self-builders are more conscious of their environment and the community around them.

We are joining a bigger community: analysing and learning from already existing self-build communities.

The examples of self-build-community-housing can the found all around the world, in the developing countries this practise is very popular as its affordable and social, people share their skills, knowledge and resources to build communities and even villages. In the more economically developed countries such a western Europe including the UK this practise is viewed as more of an individual luxury, where one household builds a bespoke, expensive dwelling into already existing community. Although this seems to be the popular view some communities in UK prove otherwise, those examples will be analysed in depth to determine their success, advantages, disadvantages and inform future investments of this type. The case studies will include;

•Walters Way and Segal Close in Lewisham, South London, UK
Development of 20 dwellings- designed by Walter Segal, this development was a part of council run scheme which allowed ordinary people to build their own home.

•Homebaked in Anfield, Liverpool, UK.
‘Improving their neighbourhood brick by brick and loaf by loaf’- this development started with a small community owned bakery and now provides affordable housing for local people, as well as jobs and training opportunities.

•Ashley Vale in Bristol, Uk
Development of 26 dwellings – Community self-build, owner occupied. Local people who were concerned with over development set up Ashley Vale Action Group to influence the process and create an opportunity for local people to build their own homes.

We are building an identity: individuals expressing themselves through community and their own homes.
Combining all the previous points of this manifesto will show how building together creates a long-lasting community. However, the community is made up from individuals, and the focus will be shifted to an individual being a part of a community. The identity that everyone brings, how they express it through their own house, skills, and contributions to the community. To explore this, we must first establish what a home means to an individual. We need to understand the emotional journey an individual takes when joining an community build, who they are and what their vision is. Only after understanding and getting to know the individuals we can look at the bigger perspective of the community.