HOUSING IN THE UK: Further ongoing research

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[edit] INTRODUCTION

This article is the last part of a two part summary of research on housing in the UK and as such is based on the hypothesis constructed in the first part, namely:—

• ... that the series of recommendations and legislation starting with the Tudor Walters Report in 1918 was governed by a recursive principle which determined how each instance in the series depended on or was produced by its predecessor.
• (See section headed 'INFINITE REGRESS ARGUMENT', in Housing in the UK)

The first part of this research also hypothesised :—.

• ... that there is no last member in the series of recommendations and legislation which started with the Tudor Walters Report in 1918.
• (ib.)

However, this second part article ... namely:—

• ... that there is a potential way out of this seemingly endless spiral.

Thus the purpose of this article is:—

• to explain how to escape...

[edit] UNDESIRABLE EFFECTS OF THE INFINITELY REGRESSIVE HOUSING SYSTEM

In October 1971, Cedric Price described the system as:—

• "a self-perpetuating and exclusively interlocking supply system reinforcing the existing categories with which it is linked."
• ('Housing', AD 10/71, p.619)

...and in the same article, he claimed:—

• "This interlocking and constrictive system can be broken apart at a key point by changing one of the fundamental rules of the game — the notional 'life' nof the building."
• (ib. p.620)

[edit] A PROGRESSIVE ARGUMENT

In January 1972, Norman Fellows began work on Domestikit following the publication of the second part of the summary by Cedric Price, namely:—

• 'Housing'
• (Cedric Price Supplement No.5, AD 1/72, pp.24-29 and 38-43)

In January 1978 Norman Fellows introduced an alternative, namely:—

• 'Domestikit'.

The original introduction to Domestikit began as follows:—

• "The continuing design of council houses by local housing authorities and their architects does not represent to me a particularly meaningful distribution of National resources.
• (Norman Fellows, 1978, 'Domestikit')

However, the first iteration of Domestikit did not include an explanation..

[edit] BLANK

[edit] CONCLUSION

In September 1969, Architectural Design published a special issue guest edited by Roy Landau:—

• "DESPITE POPULAR DEMAND... ...AD IS THINKING ABOUT ARCHITECTURE & PLANNING"

The overall title implied:—

• ... that there was a relation (R) between popular demand and architecture & planning; and
• ... that there was something wrong with either popular demand or architecture & planning or both;
• ... that the latter required a re-think.

The issue also contained an outline taken from Cedric Price's then current housing study (late sixties), namely:—

• 'EXPEDIENCY'
• (AD 9/69, p.493)

The outline implies:—

• ... that there was a relation between the socio-political causatory climate and housing in the UK; and
• ... that there was something questionable about the relation between the socio-political causatory climate
  

and housing in the UK.

In 2021, in 'Infinite Regress Arguments', Daniel Bonevac identified three possible premises:—

1. (the non-emptiness premise) ... that there is something in the set;
2. (the seriality premise) ... that everything in that domain stands in that relation to something—i.e. every object like (the) one that we start out with stands in the relation to something else and of course that thing might well then stand in the relation to something else and so on;
3. (the finiteness premise) ... that this can’t go back to infinity or, to put it in somewhat more sophisticated terms, we can say there are no infinite descending R chains – that is to say, you don’t have infinitely many things going back in the relation.

See '‘Infinite Regress Arguments’ by Daniel Bonevac – with Transcript'. [1]

[edit] Notes

[1] Daniel Bonevac's lecture on infinite regress arguments, as transcribed on the Extremely Provocative blog, offers a structured framework for understanding and analyzing such arguments in philosophy.

[edit] Structure of Infinite Regress Arguments

Bonevac identifies two fundamental components in these arguments:

1. Domain (D): A set of entities under consideration, such as beliefs, actions, or objects.
2. Relation (R): A binary relation that connects elements within the domain.

The argument is built upon three key premises:

• Non-emptiness Premise: Asserts that the domain contains at least one element.
• Seriality Premise: Every element in the domain is related to another element via relation R.
• No-Termination Premise: There is no initial or foundational element that terminates the regress.

When these premises are accepted, they lead to an infinite regress, where each element depends on a preceding one ad infinitum.

[edit] Evaluating Infinite Regresses

Bonevac emphasizes that not all infinite regresses are problematic. The critical issue is whether the regress is vicious, meaning it undermines the explanation or leads to contradictions. For instance, in epistemology, an infinite regress of justifications may prevent any belief from being adequately justified, posing a significant problem. Conversely, some infinite structures, like the sequence of natural numbers, are considered benign and do not pose such issues.

[edit] Addressing Infinite Regresses

To resolve or avoid vicious infinite regresses, philosophers have proposed several strategies:

• Foundationalism: Posits the existence of basic, self-justified beliefs or elements that do not require further justification.
• Coherentism: Suggests that beliefs are justified by their coherence within a system, rather than by linear justification chains.
• Skepticism: Rejects the possibility of certain knowledge, thereby denying the initial premises that lead to the regress.

Bonevac's framework aids in pinpointing which premise to challenge when confronted with an infinite regress, facilitating a clearer analysis of complex philosophical arguments.

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[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings

DOMESTIKIT: UK

Housing in the UK

Housing Research by Cedric Price

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