A People’s Architecture
Elain Harwood’s forthcoming book Mid-Century Britain focuses on a time when the architecture of the welfare state was decorative and cheery, rather than monumental and avant-garde.
87 Articles by:
Owen Hatherley
Owen Hatherley is a writer and editor, whose latest book Walking the Streets/Walking the Projects: Adventures in Social Democracy in NYC and DC is out now.
Myths and Realities of the Fight Against the Far-Right
David Renton is the author of numerous books on the far-right, from a history of the Anti-Nazi League to a theoretical analysis of fascism. He talks to Tribune about what it is – and how it can be fought.
The Film That Fell to Earth
The recently re-released ‘Friendship’s Death’ is an ambitious 1980s Channel 4 film in which left-wing director Peter Wollen brings radical science fiction together with the Palestinian freedom struggle.
The Socialist Architecture of Svetlana Kana Radević
Svetlana Kana Radević was one of the great architects of socialist Yugoslavia – her emphasis on public space showed what architecture can achieve when liberated from the constraints of the property market.
New Zealand’s Forgotten Socialist Modernism
In the 1940s, New Zealand’s Labour government employed architects who fled Nazi Germany to design working-class housing in Auckland – and inspire a vision of what a socialist city of the future might look like.
Rooftop Pools for Everyone
The existence of the Nine Elms sky pool isn’t only evidence of the absurd luxuries of the rich – it proves that we could all have communal luxury, if our political class thought it worthwhile.
The Radical Critique of Edward Said
Four new books about the life and works of Edward Said remind us of his towering intellectual significance – and his indispensable contribution to understanding Palestine’s struggle for liberation.
When Localism Is Anti-Social
Recent campaigns against council housing and Low Traffic Neighbourhoods in London are a reminder of the dangers of localist rhetoric – and how it can be weaponised against progressive policies.
How Solidarity Rebuilt Vietnam
During the Vietnam War the city of Vinh was almost destroyed by US bombing. It was rebuilt with the help of socialists around the world – and today its architecture stands as a monument to that solidarity.
The War over Work
New books by Jon Cruddas and Amelia Horgan exploring work share much common ground, but come to radically different conclusions – exposing a deep generational divide over the future of the workplace.
The Signs that Make a City
The signs on the street are a measure of how much authorities care about their citizens – and from stylish fonts to neon lights, Britain has a lot to learn from European cities which have used signage to enliven the urban landscape.
Demodernising Jerusalem
A new book, ‘A City in Fragments’, tells the story of how the British Empire sought to dismantle a multicultural and increasingly modern Jerusalem in order to create a ‘holy city’ entombed in a mythical past.
After the Apocalypse
The growing appeal of dystopias, end-of-the-world scenarios and depopulated landscapes is often attributed to cultural decline – but it also speaks to a mourning for better worlds we failed to build.
France’s Alternative to Gentrification
This year’s Pritzker Prize, the highest award in architecture, went to Lacaton and Vassal: French architects who rejected estate demolition and instead renovated public housing – keeping residents in place.
Red Library: Pamphlets
A serious crisis is always a good time for short, sharp, and prophetic pamphlets. The Covid-19 disaster has especially spurred works dealing both with how the crisis has unfolded, and ways activists can survive it.
A Journey Through ‘Red’ Paris
In the 20th century, leftists used their positions of municipal power in Paris to build some of Europe’s most ambitious social housing projects – housing that was not only beautiful, but affordable and secure.
Chillin’ with Lenin
Tribune’s Owen Hatherley interviews Hjalmar Jorge Joffre-Eichorn about his edited collection ‘Lenin 150,’ and the many meanings of the Russian revolutionary in the present day.
Thatcher’s Island
Britain is going through both an identity crisis and a process of political disintegration – both of which can trace their roots to the great national project of recent decades: neoliberal reform.
The Marxist Rupert Murdoch
In the 1920s and ’30s, German publisher Willi Münzenberg built a network of magazines, newspapers and film studios that terrified big business interests. It became the largest left-wing media operation in history.
Home Rule for London
In the interwar years, the Labour Party used London as an example to the country of what a socialist government could provide – and how to wrest housing from the grip of slum landlords.