The Art of Inequality: Architecture, Housing, and Real Estate

by Reinhold Martin, Jacob Moore (Editor), Susanne Schindler (Editor)

In 2013, in the United States, the median-income white household’s net worth was thirteen times that of the median-income black household. In 2014, the world’s eighty-five richest individuals held as much wealth as the world’s poorest 3.5 billion. In 2015, 88,000 households applied for the chance to live in fifty-five below market-rate apartments, accessible through a “poor door” on New York City’s Upper West Side.

What is inequality? Typically, inequality is defined by a combination of economic measures referring to income and wealth. Entire populations, in the language of statistics, are measured and managed according to their place on the inequality spectrum: patronage for the 1%, morality for the ambiguous “middle class,” and austerity for the rest. This economic inequality is, however, inseparable from social disparities of other kinds—particularly in the provision of housing. More than just a building type or a market sector, housing is a primary architectural act—where architecture is understood as that which makes real estate real. It begins when a line is drawn that separates inside from outside, and ultimately, one house from another. The relation that results under the rule of real estate development is—by its very structure—unequal.

This is the art of inequality. Its geographies are local and global. Its histories are distant and present. Its design is ongoing. Its future is anything but certain.

Genres: Architecture, Nonfiction, History

240 pages, Paperback

Published September 28, 2015

Reviews

[Jake Powell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Covers theory of housing and land ownership with clarity initially, and I feel like I have a better grounding in conversations about housing inequality for having read this book! However, at times it reads like research notes, with a lot of detailed case studies, but lacking in clear conclusions and themes. I felt the writers were providing grounding and proof for an argument and worldview that I was supposed to already know, so I’m not sure I’d recommend this to a friend unless they were already very deeply engaged in real estate and housing access work.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found it a bit dry, at times focusing too much on individual examples rather than on the theoretical framework. I feel like they touch too briefly on the theory, as interesting as it is.

[Lilac · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much more dense than I expected for its size.

I admire how it's a contemporary view on NYC housing politics through a top-down class analytic-lens.

[Polly · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good insight to how are architecture can associate with social inequality. Excellent perspective.