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Housing
Aleksander Andrejev
AT112
The Contents
Houses , not flats
Private property and public property
The importance of „home“
Individuality and conformity
Interiors: the importance of cosiness
Owning and renting
Homelessness
The future
Houses, not flats
Detached house not only ensures privacy , it is also a status symbol.
Even a modest detached house, surrounded by garden , gives the
rerequired suggestion of rural life.
Most people would be happy to live in a cottage , and if this is a
thatched cottage so much the better.
Most people try to avoid living in blocks of flats.
Flats, they feel , provide the least amount of privacy.
The people who live in flats are those who cannot afford to live
anywhere else .
The dislike of living in flats is very strong despite of that they are
very comfortable.
People said they felt cut off from the world all those floors up. The
new highrise blocks quickly deteriorated.
Private property and public property
Home as a castle implies a clear demarcation between private
property and public domain .
Flats involve uncertainties.
Uncetainties perhaps explain why the „communal“ living expected of
flatdwellers has been unsuccessful.
Law and custom seem to support a clear separation between public
and private.
People who lives in public domain also have a lot of restrictions and
dutyes.
People who lives in the private property have no restriction  for own
property and it shows exactly where the private property begins .
The importance of “home”
British people have little deeprooted attachment to their house as
an object , or to the land on which it stands .
It is the abstract idea of “home” which is important , not the building .
This will be sold when the time and price is right.
The houses themselves are just investments.
Another is the fact that it is extremely rare for people to commission
the building of their own houses.
This notion of houses principally as investment leads to a strange
approach toward house prices.
Individuality and conformity
Flats are not unpopular just because they do not give enough
privacy.
It is also that they do not allow enough scope for the expression of
individuality.
Not everything about housing in Britain displays individuality. Most
houses are built one at a time. Instead, whole streets, even
neighborhoods, are built at the same time and same design.
But if you walk down the same street that you saw from the air,
every single house would seem different–people give individuality to
their house.
All this says to us that anybody who wants to built  an extension to
their house must first get “ planning permission ” from the local
authorities.
Interiors: the importance of cosiness
British idea of home is as much psychological as physical, so is their
idea of domestic comfort.
The important thing is to feel cosy – that is, to create an atmosphere
which seem warm.
To many, part of cosiness is the feeling of tradition.
Privacy is an element of cosiness.
Privacy must be preserved so houses normally have a “hall” onto
which the front door opens.
With  its own door, through which people pass before getting to the
hall–an extra line of defence!
The back door is for family and close friends only.
Owning and renting
The desire to own the place where you live is almost universal in
Britain. However , house prices are high.
This dilemma is overcome by the mortgage system.
More and more of the people who donˇt already own a house simply
canˇt get their feet on even the lowest rung of the ladder .
Owning was made easier by government policies which offered
people various kinds of financial assistance to help them do so.
There are organizations which run their properties like a business
but are obliged to run them for social benefit.
Homelessness
Number s of people who have nowhere to live vary, but at the
present time they probably stand   between a quarter and a half
million.
All reasons amout to the simple fact that there isnˇt enough
affordable accommodation for them.
Most homeless families find temporary accomodation in boarding
houses. Some people find even more temporary shelter in hostels for
the homeless. Some just live on the streets.
In many cases , the homeless are those with personal problems which
make it difficult for them to settle down. In some cases, they are
peple who simply donˇt want to settle down.
The future
More an more people want to live on their own or in small families.
Millions of new homes will need to be built in the next decade or so.
The problem is not just that Britain is a densely populated country.
Housing takes up an awful lot of space and eats up too much
countryside.
A “ green points” system has been drawn up, whereby developers can
obtain planning permission only if they achieve a certain score .
In this century, almost half of the new homes built have been flats.
The question is whether enough people in Britain will accept this
more communal, less private, lifestyle.
Thank you for listening