Homogeny is The New Poverty
I’m writing from Athens where I am at the WPP Stream unconference. A few hundred members of WPP and their clients congregate at this resort and the bulk of the content is created by attendees.
On Day 1 everyone who wants to host a discussion does so by writing on a big board. I hosted one on UNLIKEABLE FEMALE CHARACTERS ON TV and cohosted on THE CLASS CEILING - is working class the last frontier in advertising?
But the first session I attended on WHAT MAKES THE PERFECT CITY was a fantastic start to the two days. We discussed housing, artists affordable housing and transportation.
At the end Afiya Chohollo remarked that from Kingston to Costa Rica to Mumbai she saw boring new build housing which all looked similar, one of which she said she lived in because that’s all we can afford.
It made me think that creativity and heterogenous design is already a mark of privilege and will be even more so as every city around the world starts to look the same.
Staying in Mayfair lately, I’m struck by how individual each block of building is. Red brick is squished next to black brick. Mock Tudor next to a smooth granite. Mayfair has maintained its individuality and as New Towns and mass new housing developments are built quickly and cheaply, the mark of wealth will not be stealth design but will continue to be individual design.
I stayed in a new build in New York and although it was nice and brand new it definitely was a little… soulless. Moving to a renovated brownstone in Bed Stuy was like being enveloped in someone’s personal good taste and style. It was a stark difference which altered my whole experience.
The UK government has been woefully behind its housing targets for decades. But does that mean we have to compromise with clinical, cardboard homes?
In Stack World, I have a community called Co-Living, Communes and Property Development where we have met a few times to discuss our dream housing complex. Let’s meet to discuss it again!
