Negroni Talks #52 - “Kiss My Kl-arse” : how influential is CLASS in the creation our built environment?

As Robert Hughes stated in The Shock Of The New, “In the C19th, Architecture built palaces for the rich, villas for the upper bourgoise, and ceremonial structures for the state.” and “the poor, the invisible ones, they had no architecture. They had slums.”

Whilst architects in the C20th sought to address this inequality through utopian ideals and design manifestos and often working within the state aparatus, do we find ourselves in a C21st world in which CLASS still remains a prevalent factor in our built environment and if so, what effect does this have on what gets built?

There seem to be 3 factors at play; the DESIGN of buildings, spaces and places, the DELIVERY of that design and then the question of WHO those designs are actually for, who benefits from them?

The old argument goes that you can’t design anything by committee. However, DESIGN as a process does raise questions about dialogue, openness and collaboration, and about who is involved, how egalitarian it is and who ultimately decides. What design is and who designers are, puts a spotlight on accessibility and education, from the level of design awareness fostered in children of all ages, to the system of fee-paying university education, the resulting qualifications and how necessary/useful this actually is. One may ask ‘are people from all classes equally represented within the spatial design professions?’ Conversely, one can also ask ‘why would any self respecting person, irrespective of background, choose to go into these professions?’ and finally, do these professions have the imagined controlling influence over what design is anyway?

The DELIVERY of buildings and our built environment can be characterised as being highly collaborative, but also frequently combative. So what are we to make of a battleground where antagonism can arise from the conflicting agendas of middle class professional, the working class trades, the monied clients and institutions ranging from corporate finance through to the public sector. Who really defines the value, quality and suitability of what gets built? If the traditional view of class is based on income, who makes the money out of building buildings, and are class stereotypes within the Building Industry even accurate or relevant anymore?

The final question of WHO we are building for, returns us to Robert Hughes and what is the purpose of Architecture if not to serve the interests of people from all sections of society? Does it? The power to shape our cities seems to rest disproportionately in the hands of those whose priorities and lived experiences often differ vastly from the people it impacts. So why don’t we talk more about the ways in which class structures influence not just what gets built, but who gets to make those decisions in the first place?

This discussion will interrogate whether our current built environment is simply a reflection of the UK’s deeply entrenched class hierarchy, and whether this even exists in the way that we think?

Speakers: TBC

Steve Sinclair & Huw Williams, fourth_space (chair)
Faith Locken, We Rise In
Leanne Cloudsdale, Concrete Communities
Neil Murphy, TOWN
Steve Drury, Rooff and all others who want to contribute…..