Property: The Myth That Built the World

by Rowan Moore

A powerful examination of how property shaped the modern world and why it now threatens the freedoms and stability it was meant to sustain

Property carries a great promise: It will make you rich and set you free. But it is also a weapon, an agent of displacement and exploitation, the currency of kleptocrats and oligarchs. In Britain, it has led to a new class division between those who own and those who don't.

Property: The Myth That Built the World is a vivid, far-reaching analysis of our concept of property ownership, from 16th-century enclosures to the present day. It tells powerful stories--of life in the developer-led boomtown of Gurgaon in India, of the struggles to form Black communities in Missouri and Georgia, of a giant experiment in co-operative living in the Bronx, of the impacts of Margaret Thatcher's "property-owning democracy." Above all, Property: The Myth That Built the World asks how we have come to view our homes as investments--and it offers hope for how things could be better, with reform that might enable the social wealth of property to be returned to society.

Genres: Nonfiction, Economics, Politics, Architecture, History, Audiobook, Urbanism

Paperback

Published November 2, 2023

Reviews

[Keen Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 Stars!

“The modern idea of private property was an instrument of force, a weapon wielded by the powerful on the weak.”

Between 1980 and 1990 1.5 million homes were transferred from the public to private ownership. At one stage Moore shares the story and the dark irony of The Pattersons, the family of four in Essex who were used in a big publicity stunt to promote the cause, they later lost their house and had to give it up due to escalating interest rates, and apparently after living with her children the wife went to live in a mobile home.

“The economic model that created this situation is not called into question, but treated as invisible and inevitable.”

Thatcher and her cronies whipped much of the British public into a privatised frenzy, forever encouraging the ever growing property Ponzi scheme, but it all came crashing down in the early 90s, prices fell, where millions suddenly found themselves with houses worth less than what they paid for them, repossessions rose and 345,000 homeowners lost their investments.

We see that no lessons had been learned as Neo-Con Blair and his acolytes saw values treble in his ten years in power and of course the real winners are the already rich, the property developers, estate agents and the corrupt politicians.

“Sand + electricity + water + air conditioning + minimal regulation = a boom town.”

Is one description of Las Vegas with its “holistically designed and multi-sensory environments.” In 1996 banks lent a total of $10 billion to major Las Vegas developments. And of course Trump’s largest single donor was none other Shel Adelson, who was also the magnate behind the Venetian and Marina Bay Sands resorts.

Moore explores other places around the world such as Gurgaon – the fastest growing city in India and the third wealthiest and has grown to the size of Philadelphia – described by one critic as, “a city of the private, by the private and for the private.” It sees the government enabling and colluding rather than restricting or regulating such selfish and excessive behaviour.

On the other hand we get to see some green shoots of positivity, not least in the shape of Co-Op City in The Bronx, a wonderful and edifying example of how co-operative living can work in a meaningful way over a prolonged period of time. This particular set-up has been in operation and going strong for over fifty years and is currently home to well over 43,000 people living across more than 15,000 residential units composed 35 high rises.

“Unearned property wealth might give you a sense of entitlement which, perhaps insecure that you fully deserve it, you defend with all the more belligerence.”

Credit must also be given to Moore for coming up with probably one of the most entertaining and memorable descriptions of property acquisition suggesting that,

“Something once sweet and likeable bloated into a life-threatening monster. At its most grotesque it creates the world in which children have to live in office blocks and do their homework in toilets, and play in car parks and on in industrial access roads.”

At one point he poses the question of the British government,

“If it is prepared to write off billions in tax breaks and incentives, and tie up more billions in borrowing and lending, why might it not direct these resources to building homes that people need?”

“The average new-built home in Britain is smaller than at any time since reliable records began in the 1930s. In a period that has seen unimaginable transformations in the quality and affordability of cars, of technology, of entertainment, of access to good food and cheap clothes and foreign travel, in which almost every necessity and pleasure has become better and more accessible, with more choice, new-built homes for sale have gone in the opposite direction.:

[Lauren Barnes · Rating 4 out of 5]

A smart and a essential read for anyone working in or thinking about the built environment. Rowan Moore draws together a compelling range of ideas—historical, political, economic—but it's the philosophical angle that stood out to me most, pushing questions about ownership, value, and who we are really building for.

I'd particularly recommend the final chapters, especially as we face renewed focus on housebuilding in the UK. Moore asks: what is housing for? How should we think about tenure, wealth, and the ethics of property—especially when homes are treated as assets to hoard, rather than places to live? This book doesn't offer easy answers, but it frames the right questions

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two reactions. 1)I was angry and frustrated to read about the power/ money/ corruption that fuels unaffordable house prices. 2)I loved reading about council housing and other ways that the common good can be served. (Nye Bevan is one of my heroes.)

[Robert Wechsler · Rating 4 out of 5]

There’s a lot of good material in this book, much of which I’d come across elsewhere. It’s good that he brings so much of it together in one readable place, but I do wish it were better organized. The bottom line is that the myth or, better, the legal and philosophical fiction known formerly and today as “property” can take many forms, and yet the good alternatives that Moore looks at are still relatively rare, because of so much in our culture that supports the status quo and is hard for people to reject, as much as they may hate their landlords or their house being owned by a bank (or whoever the bank sold their mortgage to). This is a book that old-fashioned progressives may not have to read, but that those who focus on varieties of racism and other oppression may not realize they should.

[Luigi Alcaneses · Rating 5 out of 5]

An epic retelling of how the mythology of private property and the "property-owning democracy" has undermined the very aspirations that it sought to uphold.

This is a fundamentally grounded economics book, spiced up with a lot of relevant examples (from India's Gurgaon, Trump Towers, and irrigation systems in the Philippines) and with philosophical underpinnings that laid the foundations for the modern version of the right to private property.

Towards the end, Moore provides a realistic defense of how states and communities can organize and plan housing allocation without altogether abandoning private property. It's a very helpful critique against the Thatcher-esque policies of help-to-buy, which can unintendedly only privilege landowners. Excellent book!

[Ele Mun · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was able to attend a lecture before getting my copy of the book signed by Rowan Moore himself - his book, 'Why We Build' was one of the first books about architecture and the built environment I read. I appreciated then as I do appreciate now the clarity and accessibility of his writing 'style'.

Pieces of a puzzle which I was previously only vaguely familiar with, brought together to tell the story of the commodification of land, lives, homes, etc. The book ends with a powerful and heartfelt (yes, heartfelt) conclusion.

[Dave Kozisek · Rating 2 out of 5]

"[M]uch chronicled, and often exaggerated and over simplified, but often real." Property, pg 250

Moore's apt description of his own work. Some truly intriguing case studies, presented in very accessible prose, are undermined by a lack of academic rigor. Status quo analysis tends to be reductive, where council hosting is presented gloriously with endless hand waving.

There's a valuable discussion in here waiting for someone brave enough to delve into the nuance, but Moore doesn't seem interested in digging in.

[Paul · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well written but lacks a clear argument - especially the call-to-arms ending chapters seems perfunctory and defeatist.

Authors brings up many instances of state/communal housing and presents them as proof that it works despite every single one of them being a failure. It's always the same: real communism hasn't been tried. It has. Trust me. It doesn't work. People are motivated by the prospect of owning property. Author, by is own admission, is motivated by it. Yet, somehow, we're all going to find a way to not be. You are very welcome to try yourself.

[Ravi Warrier · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book, for me, started on a good note, but then slowly devolved into a narrative about all the bad people in the world - rising into power, exploiting, plundering, becoming rich, etc.

I was hoping it would be an historical exploration into how property became the myth that drives the world today.

Good book, if you want to know about contemporary people and their exploits; not so good, if you wanted it to be more than that.

PS: I was going to abandon the book after 50% through, but decided to continue. My comments and even rating may change after I complete it.

PPS: Nope.

[Jonathan Ashworth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some interesting points. But (spoiler alert).....


....I ind of ruined by the conclusion. I know that the author argues that it's the system that means she can't let go of all the extra properties. But having argued the case for value and tax, that was quite a kicker to finish with.

Really did devalue what was looking like quite a good political standpoint.

[Alan V · Rating 4 out of 5]

difficult to spin a depressing concept of property democracy when it now only applies to those who were lucky enough to afford and ride the storms if ownership before others in Britain are now virtually priced out of all opportunities

interesting collection of anecdotes, offerings on alternatives and philosophy of what ownership and property actually means

[Jakub Lupták · Rating 3 out of 5]

interesting but not the most thorough or best book on the topic i came across

[Meghana · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic introduction to our current system of property ownership, it's history, it's benefits, it's flaws, and alternatives we could explore instead

[Amanda Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid insights.

Interesting consolidation of thoughts as to why the current system does not work.

[Yong Feng · Rating 3 out of 5]

British architecture critic Rowan Moore moves from writing about buildings to examining the laws and policies behind them in this wide-ranging book. He looks at the myth of property as a natural right, used by colonial powers to justify seizing land deemed to be "unproductive", from people who had no concept of private property. The enclosure of the common land that European peasants depended on, and Native American land (often by the same displaced people), is the basis for capitalism as we know it today.

The first section of the book looks at how the promise of property has been used to serve various political purposes but also failed to: from the American Dream, to Thatcher’s property-owning democracy, racism in the US, unaffordable homes in many of today’s major cities, the casino capitalism of Las Vegas, the sub-prime mortgage crisis, dictators who use property development to entrench their power, and lastly a non western example: the gated communities in Gurgaon, India, where residents live in lavishly-designed bubbles next to poorly funded public infrastructure.

In the second section, Moore traces opposing concepts of property back to two groups opposing the monarchy in 17th century England: the Diggers, for whom property was slavery and land should be for communal use, and the Levellers, who wanted every man to have a vote, but also his right to own property, a right given by nature. Clearly, the Levellers won, with others subsequently reinforcing this position such as John Locke who declared that "every man has a property in his person". However others began to criticise this: most famously Marx and Engels who in their Communist Manifesto described private property as the "most complete expression of the system of ... exploitation of the many by the few", but also American founding father Thomas Jefferson who thought that "the laws of property have been so far extended as to violate natural right", and argued for a system of usufruct instead, where land should be permanently owned by the government and then leased out to citizens for terms of nineteen years, but this was eventually replaced with perpetual ownership.

The final section explores alternatives: squats in Berlin, social housing, New York City’s Co-op City, the New Communities Inc. land trust in the United States, and Milton Keynes, the last new town created by the post-WWII British government. However, each of these remain niche and some succumbed to the commodification of neoliberalism or were unable to abandoned by subsequent governments. In the last chapter, Moore sets out some guidelines for an ideal country where land is used for social benefit instead of private gain. Other than planning for an adequate amount of housing, he also argues for taxes on capital gains, policies to limit house price inflation instead of seeing it as a good thing for homeowners, and for the government to provide homes with options to own and rent where both are equally desirable, returning to Jefferson’s idea that what matters most is one’s ability to benefit from the land when living on it, but not any gains from the change in its value which should go to the state. Perhaps for architects and urban planners who have read proposals to solve the housing crisis by using high-tech construction methods or innovative designs, this book from someone in the same field is a reminder that abstract ideas can shape and control our built environment much more powerfully — and thus we should advocate for a better, more equitable notion of property.