Why ageing blocks of flats?

Against the backdrop of the rise in health and safety incidents in decaying and retrofitted blocks of flats worldwide, the project explores how the inhabitants of aging tower blocks are striving to create safe and comfortable homes.

During the 1960s and 1970s these buildings were celebrated as the pinnacle of modernity and technical prowess associated with new, sophisticated forms of urban living. In most European countries they also embodied the social contract between citizens and their government at the base of the welfare state. However, three decades of neoliberal reforms, primarily driven by austerity policies, have resulted in decentralisation of decision-making and deregulation that, coupled with a decline of infrastructural investments and maintenance, has transformed many tower blocks into precarious spaces.

By focusing on housing we plan to reveal the tensions between macro level ideas and ideals and everyday understandings and practices surrounding welfare, health and wellbeing. Homes are simultaneously abstract commodities linked with economic thinking and political decision-making and people's most treasured intimate spaces. It is there that people establish core relationships, actively engage with feelings such as love, anxiety and care, and evaluate and challenge larger ideologies and concepts.

Why these locations?

By comparing everyday lived experiences inside housing infrastructure, we will explore the impact of the weakening of the welfare state on ordinary citizens' health and wellbeing. We have chosen the three field sites because each represents an European welfare state characterised by a different degree of implementation of neo-liberal reforms. The UK typifies how the social contract at the base of the post-war welfare state has been weakened by ongoing marketization of society. Romania stands as an example of post-socialist countries that since the 1990s have embraced free market capitalism. Norway exemplifies the social democratic Nordic welfare model funded by high taxation that has come under increased pressure after the 2008 financial crisis and the more recent refugee crisis.  

Why a participatory exhibition?

The Disobedient Buildings exhibition challenges the assumption that exhibitions are primarily final products to disseminate research findings with. We aim to revolutionise thinking in museology by conceptualizing exhibitions as processes that have the potential to produce more democratic, participatory forms of knowledge. Through multiple creative collaborations with research participants, academics, museum professionals, art practitioners, urban planners and the general public, we will not only encourage critical debate about how people conceptualise and challenge welfare, health and safety on the ground but also use this knowledge for the co-creation of interventions that may directly benefit high-rise dwellers long after the show has finished.

Housing and COVID-19?

COVID-19 had an unprecedented impact on domestic life everywhere, and our comparative study about housing, welfare and wellbeing has thus gained a unique and immediate relevance. The response strategy to the pandemic has largely been centered on the message to ‘stay at home’ and as a result, many people have been spending more time at home than ever before, often in poor housing conditions. The virus has been referred to as an equaliser, indiscriminately infecting individuals and bringing even the mighty to a halt, but the lockdown has affected people in radically different ways, and it is evident that we are not isolating and social distancing equally. How have those who live in tiny, overcrowded urban homes, tried to safely self-isolate? How can homes without proper ventilation, heating or light and with no private, outdoor areas, be turned over night into spaces of work, education, exercise and Internet-based entertainment? The pandemic has shone new light on how the homes of all citizens are intimately connected, whether they are financial assets or neglected flats. The present moment therefore offers a real opportunity to reimagine not only what home is but also how it could be improved to make it a safe place for all in the future

To study residents of urban flats while social distancing and other restrictions are in place, we have produced research packs containing tools such as disposable cameras, postcards and maps that participants can use to record their home life at their own pace and in their own time. Some of the responses we have gathered through the packs can be viewed in our galleries.