A Moratorium on New Construction

by Charlotte Malterre-Barthes

A massive value shift for existing buildings, infrastructure, materials, unbuilt land, earth, and the labor that holds our world together.

To build is to destroy, writes Charlotte Malterre-Barthes. From steel bolts to concrete blocks to wood flooring to polyester insulation panels, every single component of the built environment is the product of extractive processes. Driven by greedy economies, the global enterprise of space production expands, impacting climate, earth, water, humans, and non-humans everywhere. However housing is both a human right and the mandate of design How to navigate the need for housing versus the destructive practice of construction?

To pause new construction—even if momentarily, creates a radical thinking framework for alternatives to the current regime of space production and its suspect growth imperative. Engaging with unsettling questions, A Moratorium on New Construction envisions a massive value shift for our existing stock. From housing redistribution to reinviting value generation, from anti-extractive measures to profound structural changes, from curricula reforms to purging the exploitative culture of the office, an entire rewiring of design processes and construction lays ahead. Somewhere between a thought experiment and a call for action, A Moratorium on New Construction is a leap of faith to envision a less extractive future, made of what we Not demolishing, not building new, but building less, building with what exists, inhabiting it differently, and caring for it.

Genres: Architecture

240 pages, Paperback

Published June 24, 2025

Reviews

[Gijs]

prima. lastig een recensie over te schrijven

[Malva Ottosson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mycket intressant tankeställare kring vad som skulle hända om vi slutade bygga nya byggnader omedelbums - varför det hade varit nyttigt för universum och hur yrkesrollen som arkitekt isåfall hade kunnat se ut. Ibland superintressant, ibland snark. Men älskar framförallt det faktum att det är en kattig röd liten minibok som får det att se ut som man läser Maos lilla röda på tunnelbanan.

4 av 5 toasts

[Matej Buday · Rating 5 out of 5]

read it

[Myfanwyyy · Rating 5 out of 5]

book of the year ‽

[Wendy Wuyts · Rating 5 out of 5]

This booklet is a gem. It calls for new architecture practices. As someone who works with a lot of architects in practice and research, reads (apparently the same) feminist essays (as the author does) and has reflected a lot upon deconstruction in the emerging circular economy in construction, this book touched so many heartstrings.

This is one of the most grounded architecture texts that I have been reading in the past years.

[Miguel · Rating 5 out of 5]

A timely manifesto calling for a pivot of architecture away from new construction and towards non- or post-extractive architecture. This book covers a wide range of topics related to architecture, with helpful and interesting (and very intentional) citations - from the ecological impacts of digging and soil sealing to architectural education.

I wish the book had elaborated more about what post-extractive architectural care procedures and renovations could look like - although there were some ideas, I didn’t grasp a tangible vision of what a post-moratorium world would look like. Also, I wish there were more graphics here - I’ve come to expect diagrams and photos in design books since it’s such a visual field, and they could’ve broken up the text and helped to elaborate concepts and provide examples here.

4.5 stars.

[Clayton · Rating 1 out of 5]

The degrowth movement is made possible only by the massive material abundance that it condemns. This book extols the virtues of primitive society but—because it operates from a radical/critical epistemology, the author doesn’t find it necessary to present actual data/evidence convincing the reader that her preferred world would be either better overall or more equitable. History proves that life in the low-growth, stagnant world that Malterre-Barthes prefers is bound to be nasty, brutish, and short. And even she will miss the Anthropocene era when it’s gone.

[notttttttth · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 estrellas pq me tuvo leyendo en detalle sobre arquitectura y diseño urbano sin aburrirme. salirse de las limitaciones y realmente imaginar cambios reales es posible, y siempre me va a interesar aprender sobre ello sea la área que sea. demasiado interesante todo. nada es neutral, cuestionarse todo.

[Teresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

something for people who fall neither in the NIMBY or YIMBY camp. A lot of breadth, could have used more depth in a few sections.

[John Hill]

I reviewed it in my Substack newsletter: https://archidose.substack.com/p/an-a...