Britain is in the grip of a housing crisis. It has, in fact, been in the grip of a housing crisis since the Industrial Revolution when the population soared and people crammed into towns and cities in search of work. What followed is a tale of suburbia, green belts and, since the 1980s, the increasingly common sight of mass-produced and near identical housing across the land. This book argues that British house building over the centuries has been an art. An art of which we can be proud and an art we can still learn from. The artistry involved includes not just the design and appearance, but the setting of homes into the fabric of urban and rural landscapes and the very fabric of people's lives. We need to get the art of new housing right before building ever more homes that, while considered a necessity, no one truly likes. Where We Live is at once a critical history of the art of British housebuilding urban, suburban and rural, a study of where British housing has lost its way for the best part of a century, and a source of inspiration and hope for the future. AUTHOR: Jonathan Glancey is a journalist, author, and broadcaster. He has been the Architecture/Design correspondent for the Guardian and the Architecture/Design editor of the Independent. An Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects, he is a member of the Committee of International Architectural Critics. He writes for the Independent among other publications and is the author of Spitfire: The Biography; Concorde: The Rise and Fall of the Supersonic Airliner; V-Force: Britain's Nuclear Bombers and the Cold War; London: Bread and Circuses, Lost Buildings and The Story of Architecture.
