The depicted semi-permanent structures, made from natural wood and scavenged materials, are home to an increasing population of young and not-so-young men and women. These particular dwellings are situated in the River Avon Valley in North East Somerset, on private land between the river, railway line and canal. Without planning permission and consent, these dwellings are a stone's throw from the circuits of capitalist economy – the Georgian splendor and affluence of the City of Bath, a World Heritage Site. They serve as very vulnerable shelters for those with no means of support, who are often blighted by health problems, drug and alcohol dependence, and mental illness.
Where I live, there seem to be two kinds of space. There is new space, in which none of the buildings are more than about ten years old, and there is old space, in which most of the buildings are at least twenty years old, a lot of them over ninety years old, and all are more or less dilapidated. Patrick Keiller begins his 1998 essay The Dilapidated Dwelling with a concise and simple description of the issues he raises in both the essay and the film to which it relates, The Dilapidated Dwelling, 2000. In both film and word Keiller's description of the UK's physical infrastructure at the turn of the millennium was both depressingly evident and in need of explanation. Continuing in the vein of his most famed films London, 1994, and Robinson in Space, 1997, The Dilapidated Dwelling is narrated by an invisible voice that probes the peculiarities of the economic, political and social conditions of late 20th century Britain through the prism of its infrastructure, urban blight and, in particular, its housing. The narrator, a woman is recalled to Britain after two decades in the Arctic investigates 'the predicament of the house', discovering that the most recent advances in industrial manufacture have left the house building industry practically untouched. By contrast, changes to the global economy and the emergence of the digital age have conspired to create wealth that has seen the market price of the existing, dilapidated housing stock skyrocket. Revisiting the ideas of Constant, Buckminster Fuller and Archigram she discusses the anomalies of housing supply and demand that have allowed some to escape housing poverty and yet leave millions in 'dilapidated dwellings'. To coincide with the the launch of its three year project Housing – Critical Futures, Architecture, Media, Politics, Society, is republishing Keiller's essay and re-showing his film. The essay is reprinted from Keiller's recent book, The View From the Train, Vesro, 2013; and the film is shown as part of a one day series of film screenings and debates about the effects of housing on issues of public health, Housing, Health and Film. Screened at the Bluecoat Chambers Art Gallery, Liverpool, the film is accompanied by debates from architects, filmmakers and public health officials.
This dissertation aims to propose a general theory of disintegration. This subject is not treated directly by some theoretical accounts and mistreated by others. European integration theories are fashioned to explain the greater integration process while game-theoretic approaches to withdrawals and secessions, even if treating disintegration directly, fail to include critically responsible factors. This dissertation offers a constructive criticism of both accounts. Since neither turning integration theories symmetrically around nor direct, game-theoretic assessment of disintegration help to provide sufficient explanation, it is suggested that the problem of symmetrical reversal and rational conduct must be revised. Disintegration fails to follow the rules suggested by symmetrical reversal of integration. Therefore, it requires independent theoretical account which would pay attention to new, unique factors. Many withdrawal and secession games include these factors but at the price of paralysis of conduct. This dissertation's argument is that these new factors should be identified and described narratively in order to understand why this conduct becomes troublesome. It is suggested that the problem is located in uncertainty about payoffs' value and nature. Since actors of disintegration game bargain over different issues rather than upon integration and since these issues often assume non-quantifiable values, disintegration becomes qualitatively different from integration, integration theories prove to be unfit, and game-theoretic accounts need more cautious application. Case studies introduced in three structures of analysis – states, intergovernmental organizations and the European Union – aim to test and confirm subsequent elements of the proposed theory. The constructive criticism of both integration theories and withdrawal/secession games aim to make the general theory of disintegration applicable to many different forms of political structure. As a conclusion, this dissertation points out strengths of this new account on disintegration and encourages researchers to further extend its framework. The theory can help policymakers to understand negotiations better and to learn how to accommodate the risk. Academic researchers should be able to provide reliable analyses so that public opinion is not be shaped by the fear of the unknown and misinterpreted.
Within our contemporary context, one of the greatest challenges facing humanity, is the inability to provide sustainable, decent and equitable living conditions for the populations in condition of displacement and emergency. Although the capacity of solving global social and political crisis goes beyond the task of architecture, it is essencial that contemporary architects adopt a critical attitude towards the vulnerabilities in the design and production of dignified habitat for those sectors in need. The current refugee crisis, challenges in spatial terms, the response capacity of architecture to the necessity of shelter, not just in physical terms, but also through the creation of atmospheres that provide security, well-being and hope for those in condition of displacement. Therefore, the architectural reasearch is oriented to the conception of ephemeral dwelling mechanisms for refugees justified under the criteria of humanizing the architectural space, by recognizing the totality of the condition of the human as an individual and a social being. In this sense, the architectural proposal, despite its ephemeral character seeks to empower the user through individual expression and the entire community through social interaction.
