ABSTRACT
Housing shapes, or at least envelops, people’s private lives. Urbanism, in contrast, intervenes in the public domain. Why, then, include a chapter about housing in book on urban planning? Because even though housing embodies the private realm, it also thoroughly affects the public domain. If the housing conditions of the poor lead to epidemic diseases, for instance, these will affect the entire urban population. Moreover, poor health decreases people’s production capacities and weakens a nation’s military strength, as governments found out in the 17th century. Since the poor normally are the vast majority of the urban population, their housing situation has a major effect on the structure of cities. Mass housing is a financial challenge: providing decent homes for the millions requires monumental investments. Yet these investments may stimulate the entire economy. Whereas the poor usually have little choice where to live, the wealthy can monopolize the most attractive sites in or near cities; the distinction between villa parks and poor neighborhoods obviously leaves a mark on the layout of cities. But how does urban planning affect housing? And on what grounds do urban planners justify these interventions in the private realm? What explains why urbanists managed to tamper with something as sacrosanct as the ownership titles of land?
