Owen Hatherley

The Manifesta 16 biennale transforms a dozen disused slipper churches across Germany’s Ruhr region, using installations, films, and community‑driven projects to reflect on migration, deindustrialisation, and social fragmentation. Artists and curators reinterpret the buildings’ modernist heritage while highlighting the experiences of guest workers, particularly Turkish and Polish labourers. Some installations are playful while others address historical violence, labour struggles, and local decline. The event demonstrates how temporary cultural interventions can reanimate neglected neighbourhoods and reveal the region’s layered social history.

Modern architecture’s clean lines and rational designs are explored as fertile ground for horror, contrasting their supposed clarity with themes of alienation, inequality and repressed violence. Artists and filmmakers from giallo directors to David Cronenberg and Bernard Rose use modernist buildings to convey psychological unease, societal dysfunction and stark racial and class divides. The contrast between idealistic architectural visions and their divergent real-world outcomes underscores how modernist spaces become settings for both utopian aspirations and enduring social horrors.

Demolition of modernist architecture in Britain is driven by profit motives, political intervention and a cultural hostility toward postwar civic buildings, resulting in the loss of significant structures despite local enthusiasm for preservation. Critics argue that developers and authorities use heritage debates to justify replacing well‑designed civic spaces with lower‑quality commercial developments. Successful international examples of adaptive reuse demonstrate how mid‑20th‑century structures could be revitalized for contemporary civic purposes rather than destroyed, offering a path that balances change and conservation.

British cities continue to be shaped by finance and speculative luxury development, yet the pandemic briefly revealed the potential for more equitable urban policy. A disputed east London redevelopment highlights tensions between developers seeking profit and residents demanding social housing and community use of public land. Historic models from the London County Council and Greater London Council show that publicly driven, socially oriented planning is possible, but politicians remain reluctant to pursue it. The article argues that moving beyond the current trickle-down development model requires political will, community empowerment and a willingness to embrace more ambitious, egalitarian urban strategies.

The collapse of traditional high streets, accelerated by the pandemic, has intensified the decline of chain retail and exposed the limits of property‑driven urban planning. Government planning reforms risk converting empty commercial spaces into low‑quality housing while undermining local oversight. Examples in Preston, Wrexham and Dumfries show how community wealth‑building, co‑operatives and cultural initiatives can revive empty spaces when supported by strong local strategies and legislation. Achieving sustainable and inclusive urban regeneration depends on councils abandoning large developer‑led schemes and resisting national policies that prioritise property speculation over community needs.

Housing inequality between renters and homeowners intensified during the pandemic, revealing deep political divides tied to tenure. Renters faced greater insecurity despite temporary eviction bans, while student housing crises and rent strikes highlighted vulnerabilities. Labour’s shifts on renter support alienated activists and strengthened tenant unions. Council housing revivals in cities such as Bristol and Salford show the potential of public provision, though progress varies regionally. Co-operative housing demonstrated resilience during lockdowns, underscoring the value of shared spaces. The crisis clarified both what people need from housing and what governments can achieve, raising expectations among renters for more secure and equitable housing systems.

The coronavirus crisis has intensified political tensions between the UK government and major Labour-run cities, particularly London and Greater Manchester. Central government actions, including intervention in planning policy, conditions on Transport for London’s bailout, and the imposition of local lockdowns, are framed as part of a broader strategy to consolidate power by appealing to small-town, culturally conservative voters. Urban leaders such as Sadiq Khan and Andy Burnham are presented as more knowledgeable and effective in managing local pandemic responses. Long-term changes in cities driven by the pandemic threaten existing patterns of housing, transport, and commerce, with the future direction dependent on political choices and local democratic engagement.

Local councils long dominated by Labour face deep unpopularity linked to austerity, redevelopment controversies and decades of restrictive Conservative policies. Once centres of radical social democratic experimentation, they have been constrained by rate-capping, right to buy, outsourcing and major funding cuts. While some councils such as Preston and Norwich demonstrate innovative alternatives, others pursue contentious luxury developments to raise revenue. Growing pressure on services and rising dissatisfaction suggest a potential resurgence of confrontational municipal politics, raising questions about whether Labour’s national leadership will support councils that resist further cuts.

Eastern European architects and planners played a significant yet overlooked role in shaping postcolonial cities across Africa and the Middle East during the Cold War. Łukasz Stanek’s book reveals how socialist countries contributed to global urbanisation through foreign trade networks, political exchanges and professional expertise, challenging assumptions about Soviet bloc isolation and technological backwardness. The work highlights diverse collaborations, from major civic projects in Ghana and Iraq to commercial developments in the Gulf, and reframes Cold War and globalisation history through the lens of architecture.

Argues that Jeremy Corbyn is better compared to Neil Kinnock than Michael Foot, noting shared circumstances such as inheriting a weakened Labour Party, facing intense media hostility, and maintaining grassroots popularity despite electoral defeats. Highlights differences between Momentum and past militant groups, and suggests future Labour leadership contenders will position themselves as post‑Corbyn rather than rejecting Corbynism altogether. Emphasises the pressures future leaders will face from the media and political establishment and warns that the compromises seen in the lead-up to Labour’s 1997 victory could repeat themselves.

A critical review of Ken Livingstone’s latest book argues that while it offers anecdotal charm and wide-ranging reflections on London, it fails to meaningfully assess his political legacy. It highlights contradictions between his radical early politics and later compromises with developers, contrasts his governance with that of successors, and notes unresolved controversies such as accusations of antisemitism. The review praises aspects of his tenure, including improvements to transport, but concludes that the book provides no substantive evaluation of his impact on modern London.

Reviews Eric Klinenberg’s argument that libraries, parks and other public spaces form essential social infrastructure, highlighting examples from the US, UK and abroad while noting the book’s limits in addressing ownership and gentrification. Raises broader concerns about inequality, urban crises, and the failures of market-driven approaches, concluding with criticism of Facebook’s claim to provide social infrastructure and a call for collectively built public spaces.

British attempts to emulate European urbanism in the 1990s and 2000s resulted in fragmented, commercialised developments rather than cohesive, publicly oriented spaces. While planners and politicians promoted a vision of European-style cities, everyday life in suburbs and working-class areas remained shaped by privatisation, car dependence and weakened public institutions. The contrast between European urban qualities and British redevelopment fuels the author’s view that Brexit reflects deeper failures in planning, governance and social investment.

A review of Liam Young’s book critiques its limited insight into the youth-driven surge behind Jeremy Corbyn in the 2017 UK election. While highlighting the real enthusiasm among young supporters and contrasting it with mainstream media skepticism, the book is faulted for uninspired writing, lack of historical context, and modest political ambition. It touches on internal tensions within the Corbyn movement, youth-driven internationalist values, and unresolved questions surrounding Labour’s Brexit stance, concluding that the emerging left needs a more ambitious vision.

The review assesses Yuri Slezkine’s The House of Government as an ambitious and unconventional history of Bolshevism told through the Moscow apartment complex built for the Soviet elite. It highlights the book’s sweeping portrayal of Bolshevism as a millenarian cult, its extensive digressions, and its harrowing accounts of famine, repression and the Great Purge. While praising its scale and originality, the review criticizes Slezkine’s narrow focus on the building’s residents and his exclusion of broader global and political contexts, ultimately describing the work as fascinating but flawed in its conclusions.

The former Nazi “Strength Through Joy” resort at Prora, long a symbol of fascist ambition and later military use, is being converted into luxury holiday apartments by multiple private investors after the state sold the site in pieces. Redevelopment has sparked debate over the erasure of its historical significance, with local institutions arguing for its educational value while developers market it as a standard beachfront destination. The transformation mirrors broader tensions in Germany over confronting the past, highlighted by growing support for the AfD, which seeks to downplay Nazi-era remembrance.

Two veteran architectural writers, Edward Jones and Christopher Woodward, revisit Soho to explore how their long-standing Guide to the Architecture of London has translated into a new app. They discuss shifts in the area’s character, from its historic vibrancy to the spread of chains and gentrification, while critiquing contemporary architectural styles and planning decisions by local authorities. The app’s structure and selective content spark debate between the authors, reflecting their strong views on architectural quality, preservation, and London’s rapid development.

A review of Douglas Spencer’s book critiques the way certain architects, particularly Patrik Schumacher and those influenced by parametric design, embody neoliberal ideology through forms that mask labour, power and social consequences. It argues that these architects translate free‑market principles into urbanism that prioritises deregulation, gentrification and privatisation. Examples such as projects in London, Beijing and Birmingham illustrate how market‑driven processes often degrade architectural intent. The review contrasts these approaches with post‑crisis architecture that favours restraint and craftsmanship, noting that neoliberalism persists regardless of architectural style.

Publicly owned land, affordable housing and community-led planning form the foundation of an ideal new city, with architecture that balances cohesive design and diverse experimentation. Cultural life depends on accessible venues, liberal licensing, affordable living and the ability for communities to shape their own creative scenes. Transport should prioritise clean air, limited private car use, autonomous vehicles and rail-based mass transit, while planners integrate workplaces and homes to reduce commuting needs. Effective local politics requires real devolution, actionable budgets and civic spaces that promote genuine participation rather than exclusion or superficial engagement.

A review of Stuart Jeffries’s Grand Hotel Abyss assesses his accessible and humorous account of the Frankfurt School’s leading thinkers, tracing their origins, intellectual evolution and complex relationships with Marxism, popular culture and political upheavals. The book highlights the impact of figures such as Adorno, Horkheimer, Benjamin, Marcuse and Habermas while noting weaknesses in Jeffries’s treatment of popular culture. It outlines how the institute’s members navigated fascism, exile and postwar politics, ultimately shifting from revolutionary aspirations to a more institutional, liberal orientation.