Experiments in Self-Management: histories of radical housing

An open discussion exploring examples from the history of radical housing.

Maud Bracke will discuss her study of the Falchera occupations of 1975 - 76: an occupation by about 650 working-class families of council houses in Turin's northern periphery. The Falchera occupation was a very dramatic moment in a wave of house occupation and rent strikes in 1970s Italy. It is situated in a tradition of working-class people claiming the right to an adequate and and affordable living space - a history which also includes the rent strikes in the West of Scotland at the start of the 20th century. Bracke investigates how the Falchera house occupation came about and what impact it had, focussing specifically on the reasons why women in particular experienced the occupation as a moment of liberation.  

Benjamin Franks discusses why centralised planning has rightly fallen into disrepute and examines how some of the alternatives, masquerading as emancipatory projects, replicate existing hierarchies or generate new forms of domination of their own. Using the example of squatting in the UK, Franks also examines how some of these 'experiments in freedom' produced exhilarating and beneficial, autonomous collaborations. At a time when housing is in crisis and our welfare systems are under threat, the discussion offers stimulating insights from real-world communities who have taken a different route, and questions some of the solutions currently on offer.

Maud Bracke is a lecturer in Modern European History and Benjamin Franks is a lecturer in Political and Social Philosophy, both at the University of Glasgow.