Ken’s war economy
Austin Williams | 30 March 2008 Ken, the consummate political hack, has learned that you only need to mention carbon emissions these days and it is enough to stifle criticism. What better way to create the mandate for any old restrictive policy, rubbishing your opponents and getting away with it. Claim that you are campaigning against climate change and, it seems, you are above criticism. Well pardon me if I don’t play ball. Firstly,...
Transforming New York
‘Robert Moses and the Modern City: The Transformation of New York’ edited by Hilary Ballon and Kenneth T. Jackson; Norton, 2008. 336pp Reviewed by Alastair Donald | 20 January 2008 This illuminating volume was published to tie in with a three part exhibition held in New York in early 2006. It acts as an extensive catalogue of built and unbuilt projects from during Moses period in public office from 1934 until he was ousted...
Facts About London
Austin Williams | December 2007 South Bank The Hayward Gallery is named after Sir Isaac Hayward, former leader of the London County Council. It was opened on 9th July 1968… the same day that former West Ham striker Paolo Di Canio was born. Bridges The Millennium bridge from Tate Modern to St Pauls is 325metres long although its central span is just 144metres and is suspended by tensioned cables that sag by 2.3m. When it opened on...
Moving India
Austin Williams | November 2007 The Indian railway holds misty-eyed memories for hardened travellers, but even for those who have never ventured to the continent it symbolises both the history and mystery of that vast country. With 39, 500 miles of passenger rail – twice the length of the British rail network – India still recalls the era of steam trains, tea and tiffin. In his ‘Great Railway Bazaar’ travel writer Paul Theroux...
More than Bricks and Mortar
Dave Clements | November 2007 In a speech given at Battle of Ideas 2007, Dave Clements argues that housing has become a vehicle for contemporary prejudices, anxieties and orthodoxies about how we live. The figures … The government’s plan is to build three million homes by 2020 The annual target is to build 200,000 homes a year We are already falling short by around 30,000 a year The target will increase to 240,000 a year from 2016...
London Property Review
Austin Williams | 14 October 2007 The architects of David Cameron’s so-called eco-house predict that ‘sustainability will be the critical word in architecture over the next 20 years.’ This is undoubtedly true. The problem is that sustainability is actually going to be the death of architecture. The editor of Environmental Building News is currently promoting the idea of ‘Passive Survivability’; Nick Rosen, author of ‘How to Live...
ESSAY: The political engagement’s off
Austin Williams | October 2007 The e:petitions web page was launched on Number 10’s website in November 2006 ‘enabling anyone to address and deliver a petition directly to the Prime Minister.’ Presumably, someone thought that it would be a good wheeze to minimise the photo opportunities for aggreived members of the public to present a paper petition to the Prime Minister in full view of the waiting media. Oh well, back to the drawing...
Architects cannot save the planet
Austin Williams | 13 July 2007 In a recent public statement by the chairman of BDP, the largest firm of architects in the UK, Tony McGuirk claims that architects long for a ‘far more positive social role.’ It all sounds very caring, until you realise that in today’s parlance, a ‘positive social role’ means that architects want to interfere more. It is really a shorthand for wanting to improve the behaviour, ethics and attitudes of the...
Something Stinks
Austin Williams | 28 February 2007 I’ve just finished reading Steven Johnson’s “The Ghost Map” about London’s 19th C cholera epidemics. Until Dr John Snow located the source of the problem in the water supply, everyone believed that the killer disease has something to do with the all-pervasive stench of the city; the ‘miasma’ permeating the over-crowded slums of the city. Using painstaking empirical data backed up by meticulous...
Estates: An Intimate History
‘Estates: An Intimate History’ by Lynsey Hanley; Granta Books, 2007. 256pp Reviewed by Dave Clements | 26 February 2007 There used to be a sign on an estate I’d walk through in Hackney on my way home that read ‘No mind games’. I don’t know how long it had been there, so subtle and unassuming, but soon enough it was back to ‘No ball games’. Some pre-Banksy surrealist prankster had managed in their own small way to...
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