ABSTRACT
The chapter discusses the relations between bodies and houses and to see about people, persons and things. It is fruitful to think about houses as part of the socio-technical relations of contemporary urban society; to consider how houses are simultaneously seen as an object but also as something with agency in policy and in practices related to housing redevelopment. The chapter explains a radical and increasingly dominant set of political ideas. It also indicates that the notion of community spirit may be less banal than is often assumed, and that it bears a close relationship to the utopian good community that policy aspires to. There is some evidence that desired outcomes may be more achievable in smaller scale architectural projects. Experienced architects certainly recognise the limitations to their visioning exercises, and more radical architects have developed community-owned and community-directed development projects which aim to help empower citizens, as much as to offer improved environments.
