9 10 310 https://nam.maydayrooms.org/files/original/33ba5205461219f217f33bfbd6c6fa5e.pdf f6f27139635af0cdefe2930623045921 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Public Design Group Description An account of the resource Argued that it was only through the public sector that the majority of people could have access to the land and resources needed for housing, education and other essential services. The task was therefore to reform the practice of architecture in local councils to provide an accessible and accountable design service. The Public Design Group proposed reforms to the practice of architecture in local councils to provide a design service accessible and accountable to local people and service users. The following 6 Interim Proposals were developed which were later initiated and implemented in Haringey Council 1979-1985 by NAM members. <ul><li style="font-weight:400;">Local area control over resources </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Design teams to be area based </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Area design teams to be multi-disciplinary </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Project architects to report directly to committee</li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Abolish posts between Team Leader and Chief Architect </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Joint working groups with Direct Labour Organisations</li> </ul> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Letter Subject The topic of the resource Letter to C McKean of RIBA Community Architecture Working Group Description An account of the resource Charles MeKean Community Architecture Working Group Royal Institute of British Architects 66 Portland Place London Wl 1 t bear Charles McKean “@ thank you for your invitation to participate in the RIBA working Group on Coamunity Architecture which we «wre, however, unable to accept. ve feel that this important topic should more properly be the subject for public debdate and so, given the non-accountability of the profession, it would be immppropriate to discuss it in the context you propose, Therefore we are reluctant to add any weight whéch we may have bpe participating on this occasion, Our view stems froa a principle widely held witnin NAM that statutory or public bodies within the building industry and society at large) are more appropriate agencies for change than private chartered institutions. Tt asssars to us that no matter how the terus of reference of the working group aud conference are drawn, it as axiowatic that the X1sA's primary role of eafeguerding professional interests as they now stand is irreconcilable with the purported intentions of the brief, Sinilarly we feel the edootion by the KIVA of any of the other issues on hich .is working: to achieve change is likely at best only to modify aopescances leaving the structure intact. Ye hepe nonetheless that you will find our developing work of intarest anc that possibly we may meet in the future in circumstances more on the lines we h.ve imolied. Yours sincerely Hawaer Trmmnion for NDS/NAN f : Liason Grenp Caroli Greup. NDS Group New Architecture Movement 9 Poland Street Lendon Wl NN aab A sath eh anmalierat os soinsaU oieSige vecespiNncRRAsSteaiine wi a dota cee onl aie iliAdes f co John Mian, Wn Murrey ; “ Neville Morgen, Many $ccAh Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Hawser Trunnion Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived John Allan Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource June 1977 https://nam.maydayrooms.org/files/original/ac34bd3ac22c8b9fdf92b012ce29b1e1.pdf b4c86e5e019bcba88537df7264b13a8a Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Public Design Group Description An account of the resource Argued that it was only through the public sector that the majority of people could have access to the land and resources needed for housing, education and other essential services. The task was therefore to reform the practice of architecture in local councils to provide an accessible and accountable design service. The Public Design Group proposed reforms to the practice of architecture in local councils to provide a design service accessible and accountable to local people and service users. The following 6 Interim Proposals were developed which were later initiated and implemented in Haringey Council 1979-1985 by NAM members. <ul><li style="font-weight:400;">Local area control over resources </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Design teams to be area based </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Area design teams to be multi-disciplinary </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Project architects to report directly to committee</li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Abolish posts between Team Leader and Chief Architect </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Joint working groups with Direct Labour Organisations</li> </ul> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Letter Subject The topic of the resource Letter to Hawser Trunnion re RIBA Community Architecture Working Group Description An account of the resource q4th June 1977 Dear Hawser Trunnion, 197 Camberwell Grove London SES QO1 737 2618 I'm veplying to your letter about the RIBA's community architecture working group. I'm doing thais privately so as to avoid giving rise to pre conceptions. When I started to work on ‘Fight Blight! I had no other aim than to investigate alternative ways of tackling the way people live in cities. This was preceded py campaigns which I had led with architects (even RIBA members, no less) against motorways in Glasgow, CDAs in Glasgow, the GLDP and Ringways in London, an office block in Haymarket in Edinburgh. Itm saying all this by way of references. The subsequent work I'm doing at the RIBA on community architecture has as wide a brief as that as well. Not to prove a point, noe ane whatseever remotely to do with ‘safeguarding professional interests' (another preconception) ~ just to find out who is doing what, and what needs to be changed to encourage this. For all I know, I may have met more people invohved in this subject on a practical base than you have. When Rod Hackney swears by the RIBA Form of contract or Fee Scale (which presumably damns him in your eyes) he doesn't do so to protect the profession, but because he reckons that it gives the Black Road, Saltiey, Belfast and Millom people the best deal he can. Jim Johnston (an RIBA Councillor as well as ASSIST) takes an cpposite view. Presumably he too is damned for being an RIDA Councillor, . I'm hkping to demystify architecture, community architecture and buildin What upsets me is your preference ofthe ‘statutory or public bodies! as agents of change, rather than private "hartered institutions. Have a look at some of the photographs in Fight Blignt to see what these grand public bodies @o-for the slaves who are their unwilling tenants; in Lewisham not even allowed to choose their own wallpaper, in Southwark not allowed to choose the plants to grow outside their own windows. The totalitariansism of local. authorities is quite horrendous = yet I wonder how many NAM members are working for them accepting this ~ whilst criticising the politics of Persia. It is my hope that a full discussion of the relationship between designer and user within the profession, instigated and prompted by the RIBA will force designers to consider the new dimension of the occupants. I cannot see any evidence whatscever that in even a liberal or pseudo liberal autherity (such as Neweastle and Byker) the same changes could become firmly accepted. A close hook at the pressures surrounding the truth of this. I think the RIBA can help change the way that architects are prepared to work - a development£ do not detect in local authorities. I enclose £2 for past present ond future issues of Slate. Yours sincerely NeAAs Ne Cine rh es * Howser Trunnion, New Arch}itecture Movement. CARAS i{= ee PE Community architecture is beset by myths and half truths relating to the role of professionals, the rele of the public and the role of the authorities. Those talking loudest are often those not involved in the day to day supervision of a community insspared development (Partick Housing Trust, Pearman St Co operative, Black Road 2 etc) but those enjoying themselve: giving advice without responsibility. os course, there's room for both. SNL aa eeGalLl ae atSR the Byker 'experiment' will indicate Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Charles McKean Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived John Allan Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 14 June 1977 https://nam.maydayrooms.org/files/original/4b3c14cefec204ca5d84327a72a64c0f.pdf fb61daa500d59abc3875e3330cd161b1 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Public Design Group Description An account of the resource Argued that it was only through the public sector that the majority of people could have access to the land and resources needed for housing, education and other essential services. The task was therefore to reform the practice of architecture in local councils to provide an accessible and accountable design service. The Public Design Group proposed reforms to the practice of architecture in local councils to provide a design service accessible and accountable to local people and service users. The following 6 Interim Proposals were developed which were later initiated and implemented in Haringey Council 1979-1985 by NAM members. <ul><li style="font-weight:400;">Local area control over resources </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Design teams to be area based </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Area design teams to be multi-disciplinary </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Project architects to report directly to committee</li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Abolish posts between Team Leader and Chief Architect </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Joint working groups with Direct Labour Organisations</li> </ul> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Account Subject The topic of the resource ACID Supplement (GLC) "Reform of Local Authority Planning & Architecture 10 pp Description An account of the resource There is little doubt that architects in general are well intentionea, their aim is basically to benefit society in (seme vague way) and people Cin they are imprisoned in their traditional role of entrepreneurs for the ruling elite, whose objectives may be very different. Thus, even when engaged in projeects of the highest. social relevance - housing.’ schools, etc. - the architect may fiRi that he is forced to accept Subsstandard)sites,‘ee costlimits, ’ shoddy workmanship- and all the other Architects may talk about technological solutions,. velitical solutions or secial solutions »- anything to absolve themselves of sponsibility for the unhappy state of buildings today... birt..the anchitect.isneithen.politisien or industrialist end he has Little influence in either field (thanks mainly to the RIBA) Radical Chenves in architec pg can only come about when society itself, first undergoes a transformation - + when the balanceof tenAisi? Yet society is changing end architects will be ef ordinary people, is a significant feature These groups will grow in strength and number over the next few years until opposition te the interests The Labour Party, at their recent conference in Blackpool, committed themselves to a policy of some form of land nationalisation. While © welcoming this step, there is an obviousdanger Oaiteleadingtoevenmorecentreslisetionand oSRRCOMMEt:clear(adil:oa erosionoftherightsofindividualsandsmall wee : communities. O ‘ i; ; en Pee(8oy American (town pldnnin? «is they a can no longer ¢ Be. Getting City Hall in New Yor to Amentify wad othe & given (8)jane Jacobs once elias “aatke atte ae Wey. [Serpea “Neighbourhood control” is REFORM OF LOGAL AUTHORITY PLANNING AND ARCHT TECTURE - piedHe. J" forced eventually to adant their F ee:)ir ;re*: When John’ Ruskin trefused toaccept its. whole outlook end working methods, whether they want to or not. Gold Medal in 1874 he wrote; “The.— The emergence of local amenity groups, community pom oo oe te exalt the power of their own proiession over the imiind OL the public, power ‘Deeng if in the preseat century synonymous with i 4 i, ai ree. onsandneighbour! d - Ne Ae 9 goty * Qe oS ACOcd aS V1L0Mn srouze of and % all kinds, dedicated tofighting bad planning, architecture which cares nothing for the needs wealth’ a generalised sense). However, as professiorials, manifestations of the meagre value thet a middle-class dominated society puts updén provisions under-orivileged. Society gets its masters demand ... high rise workers to live in, feceless:office others to work in. ghettos for the towers for ce Tis Bae ian ated spl governmeat - at apt ee lienated local government and big . t now obsessed with erentasa tion, Americans are conzing usiness wil ave 1B .,“ioe teenoe providsdfor f realise.“Ghatbigcityadministra.: tluns are such jugzernauts thar constitutionally. for the the buildings — Such a policy must, we believe, be combined with the legal recognition of community organisations and a constitutional change to ensure that they have a say and control overlocal issues - planning, + education, welfare, etc. Radical local authority architects can assist in the emergence of such local power structures not only by supporting their local groups and lesking information to others, but also by giving constant and wide publicittyo alternative methods of designing housing, schools, towns, etc. which will encompass full participetion (before decisions are reached) for thoseaffected. Letus examine some alternatives. Participation much abused, devalued and misunderstood. Participation simply means a return to the architects! traditional role - that of interpreter of the client's requirements and the fulfilling of these in accordance with the latters best interests. No worthwhile architecture has been, or will be, achieved without a healthy relationship and understanding between designer and client. Prior to industrialisation, the architect's client was usually on the same wavelength as himself - the cultured patron who could discuss 'styles', knew the latest fashions and tastes. Or, for the majority, it was a case of getting Fred the builder down the high street o kneck something up ~- using tried and tested craft based technioues and forms. For the peasant it was often a case of build it yourself - the perfect intekration of client, builder and architect, or ‘participation’. Client Today we are informed that our real client must be anonymous. We refer to him/her by the abstract term'people', 'the users' or 'them'. We have a false client to compensate - the administratorwh,o interprets what is best for the real client yet who is even more out of touch with 'them' than we are, sitting all day on our behinds, trying to conjure up attractive shapes which have little relevance or meaning for the human beings who will be forced to inhabit or work in them. The whole parevhernalia of the social sciences - surveys, computer predictions, ‘rational’ appraisals, density evaluations - are employed as substitute for real contact with those who we are really responsible to. These techniques are sectioned officially for they are merely another side of authoritarian control in fasionable pseudo-objective garb - the statistics are in the hands of the authority to be manipulated as they think fit - often they are not even disclosed, Beware of those who justify their actions with spurious technological/ Illustration, by David Knight, MSIA, from the Skeffington report The word 'participation' has been core The mnainsprings of local government, activity in the London of future wih lie in the k with which people ident ¢ ‘through which they express their yneeas and deniands. ' For all their faults, the Lon- don boroughs are beginning to /understand this and aet upon if, They are the’ real successes. of 'these first five vears. If Lenron local government. is to live again, it is they who deserve the en ‘courageiient and the suppor. @ anei BIa nicaStata analCSE wandBncatchmanehteLEee e,BeeTEebeFne TRS @ ct c as ee ee, The aim is to describe objectively the subjectivo views or. this to be the case. The numbers are used in a comparative way: one thing is 3 isaSS reainecethtataene conceptualisations of these people and if possible to put: numbers on to both these concepts and the patterns which underlie them. Putting numbers to subjective experionce is something psychologists have done for many years— worker ratings, discretionary awards, public opinion polls and even the hit parade are common situations in which subjective experience is turned into numbers. So it seems likely that people can use numbers meaningfully to express their thoughts, and many psychological studies have proved better or worse than another. It is only a short jump to: introduce degrees into this comparison and to label therm. Lological mumbo jumbo. We need more designers who can apprise the problems through historical enalysis and social and cultural criteria drawn from direct empirical experience. A job which one would expect equipped for. fmuveus tell the ; from, a Dui affeet them © ‘T have a Vision of the F uture, chum, The workers’ flatsin fields of soya beans Tower up like silver pencils, score on score: | And Surging Millions hear the Challenge come From microphones in communal canteens “No Right! No Wrong! All's perfect, fevermore. © [] High-rise towers have proved a disastrous experiment in urban dwelling. They give many of their occupants acute uneasiness. Some people arrange their furniture so as to avoid any view of the ver- tiginous plunge from their thir- tieth-floor window. Fer mothers with small children, they present insoluble problems ofplay and supervision. The eleySion become places of dirt and danger. The wholesale buildozing of little streets and houses to make way for them destroys delicate net- works of service and friendship which are simply not recreated between different floors in new apartment houses. The ground areas between the towers, which were supposed to provide needed air and space and greenness, can become windy deserts below vast buildings which tunnel the weather down their vertical sides as dco mountain ranges. Some town planners even main- tain that. the claim made for high-rise dwellings — that other- wise even more little houses would be scattered over the countryside — is not borne out by economic or spatial necessity. In a number of cities, areas of similar size, with alternations of four to eight floor blocks round enclosed gardens and courtyards, can house virtually the same number of people and provide the intimacy and security which parents in particular jook for. Objections contact with the eventual users of our buildings at the briefing stag Objections from architects to this are always in terms of operational problems, not on vrinciple. In the field of housing they can be summarised as follows:+ ‘People do not know what they want! "How can progress be made - people only like what they know! (3) 'If you ask people what they went they will say a ‘house and garden', and of course they cannot heve thatti! The first statement is3 a i anybody who has We ask nothing less than direct ever had anything to do with community action will tell vou. people can usual. 7 ‘ee hen it concerns them directly X environmental iy and coherently - it is thers to ask them. statement is an insult to us as a Ith» The variation - it is to imply that, ata ULUEQ, the user will ask for some outlandish personal folly which will be. totally unsuited to future occupants. If we are unable to conduct vith clients, putting forward alternatives and discussion limitations, construction techniques, elc. we are not much use as a profession. One suspects hat these sort of objections stem from experience in private practice where the architect has to deal with a power elite, used to bullying their own way through. Ordinary people tend to be much more receptive and co~opverative. Private ¥ mind. the architect to be new solutions, cost 3 Sector if we wish to find solutions to woTM (yy The third objection usually comes from an architect who himself lives in a house with a gerden. What arrogance, to deny anyone what he has himself! Those who really believe in the 'scarcity of land! myth should themselves rent a flat at the ton of the nearest point block. We would go a long way to bettering buildings if architects designed with themselves in the participatory design of mass housing, let us turn to the private sector - wheré consumer pressure exists. You would not find too msny system—built concrete towers here. Whatever our job is, or should be, we seem to be more concerned with side issues or irrelevant conceptalisations. The growth of a separate'management:' structure in Local Authority departments is worsening this situation. Architects at the top do not concern themselves with the design of buildings any more, but employ a whole range of irrelevant management tools such as ‘coordination’, 'rationalisation', -‘decision centralisation’, etc. The results are often a sort of bureaucratic architecture designed to be understood by administrators - simplified components and grid layouts (see Ronan Points, MACE, Thamesmead). It is with the entrenched attitudes of 'management' that our biggest struggle lies. they will stoutly maintain that they are mere architects, tools of the councillors, while simultaneously playing puny political games behind locked doors. We shall be tackling ways of breaking these barriers down in future editions of ACID news. Workload There are more architects in Great Britain than in any other country. This shows up in a vast local Authority like the GLC where qualified architects are doing jobs well below their capacity - often quite menial jobs. Yet we believe that there is enough work to be spread evenly. One fault is that jobs are just too BIG - especially housing jobs. A vast estate like Thamesmead is designed, it seems, in the nineteenth century Beaux-Arts tradition of a master plan with the architecture conforming to a coordinated and consistent master plan. The designhierarchy is similarly archaic - a small group of policy makers delegate sections to groups who must conform to the overall technology and style. The end product is often a sea of ugly, grey, inhuman concrete ~- and highly uneconomic as well. All in the name of consistency - the sort of thing only architects appreciate - so long as they do not have to live there. It is design by balsa wood and birds eye view autocrats and has nothing to do with people or living or anything. Scale of Work To implement the kind of 'real client' participation outlined above and @) They say a camel ‘is a horse designed by a committee, “but in my experience that is a pretty, good shot atit.[should expectahorse- designing committee to come up with something possessing several different kinds of legs, and also much smaller .than the original expectation. A spider would be near the mark. @ THE GREATER London Coun- til and the Inner London Educa- tion Authority together bave an annual revenue budget of £350m, and an annual capital budget of a further £150m.-—-£500m. a year -total spending. This, as Desmond Piummer, the G.L.C.’s leader, is fond of pointing out, is “big business by any standards.” (Compare for instance, Ford Moior’s annual turnover of £488m.) . How is this vast organization,’ with over 100,000 full- and part- time employees, managed ? What replaces the profit motive which motivates managers in the private sector ? / Mr. «Gaffney, who is Tory “member for Ealing, regards recent changes at Counly Hall as pari of “a major revolution ‘through local government. Value ‘for money has become a_ substi- ‘tute for the profit motive”, The ‘traditional approach that you had certain services to provide, and pro- vided a first-class service froma the available resources, has had to be modified in the face of.“ scream- ing inflation” and the huge scale of the G.L.C’s activitics, “It is not now enough to offer a first: class service. You must do it at the least possible cost”, says Mr. Gafiney. This is where the management ‘tool of planned programming and |budgeting, now being grafted on to the G.L.C.’s rather hierarchical and _departmentalized administrative system, offers such dividends ic a. public authority. For it not only. gives the clected members,to whom the political decisions on how! much to spend an what must always belong, a more meaningful picture of the cost and benefit of any par- ticular course, but-—quite as impor- tant—-for the first time pronises to give them a sound basis for com- paring the value-for-money [o7. cost-and-benefit) tag of competing alternatives. spreading AGahanMkEI CEiaeaA WI to employ our architecturd manpower to its fullest capacity, we propose that housing and other jobs be broken down into small units about the size of a housing association scheme each with its own job architect and group of tenant-clients ob community representatives. From then on the job architect, in consultation with his client, is free to come uo with whatever solution he thinks best - free from all constraints of ‘conforming to 'an overall concept', 'consistency', coherence' and all the rest of that meaningless architectural claptrap. His only constraints would be the usual ones - Byelaws, Planning, etc. The educational or housing administrators would still play theirrole in this arrangement, except the rules they followed would be changed so that they no longer had overall power to ‘interpret’ tenants'or teachers'or kids' requirements. The architect could ask them directt This would also lend itself to other forms of housing, say, if a tenant wanted to go for self build he would be allocated a plot with the architect as advisor. Private tenants could apply for plots. Rehabilitation could be easily incorporated into this arrangement. Young architects in both private and public sectors would get a chence. A variety of competitions could be held, students could be given their own (small?) jeb instead of being used as cheap detailing laboun, architects would spend perhaps 50% of their time in the district they were designing for, instead of 1% as at present. Perhaps local. Authorities could employ most of their architectural staff as consultants ~ it is a notorious fact that private architects can achieve better results quicker than those in employment bypessing much of the bureaucracy and clumsy management. Ferhaps one of the first things to do to improve local authority architecture is to abolish the architecture departments. 2eceasecainwine awares 220kckca eta ncaaasada etaethetceonattiie iheedeliseisSaiBiaSD i PLANNING REFORM It is not much good considering alternative proposals for resolving a situation if circumstances will prevent you from adopting them. Yet this is fundamentally the problem at Covent Garden, Piccadilly Circus, or any other central redevelopment site of significance - for whatever may be the solution in terms of the public interest, the initiative in a development project basically rests with the landowner, who needs not to make his actions accountable to the public. The exception occurs when the local authority holds the land, but on central urban sites of a commercial nature, councils generally argue that they ought not to enter on enterprises involving financial speculation with public funds. As a consequence, in the process of redevelopment many businesses are dispossessed, although it is well known that they play a significant part in the life of the area. The question then is whether the local authority ought not to reconsider the ethics of its attitude towards speculative development. When, for instance, the London ‘'ransport Board is sinking £90 million in constructing the Fleet Line, which published estimates say will augment property values in south~east London alone by £100 million, of which it will not recoup any, is not this a clear case of public funds. being employed to foster commercial speculation, and on an enormous scale? The conclusion is that the public authority is acting as nothing less than ayproperty developer, albeit a highly philanthropic one. Equally therefore, the public authority may take the initiative in the redevelopment of Piccadilly Circus and any other urban centre. if this were the case, then is it possible to consider which alternatives are in the best interests of the public, a situation which would be far more positive than that which exists at present. eceoeeeaneoeeeee To pursue the question a bit further, as architects and planners we are very aware of the shortage of public funds for providing facilities in local authority schemes - to the extent that projects suffer from the absence of social and environmental amenities. The example quoted of the L.T.B. show that there are substantial financial resources created through development, “THERE -is a feeling that they have had as much change as they can take.” This remark by a Greater London Coun cil “ofiicial sums up the current mood ‘of antagonism against a rash of mas- sive development projects which could ‘alter the character of the capital’s cen- tral area beyend recognition. Extreme public disquiet is showing a variety of forms. The outery against Sir Basil Spence’s design for a new office block fer Government use on the site of Queen Annc’s Mansions by St James’s Park has boen based largely on aesthetics and bulk in a sensitive area, close enough to the Houses of Parliament for Members to take an active critical interest. Piccadilly Circus stirs up opposition ‘for different reasons. There, not only { the seale of any development coneern, but also the whole ive issue of speculative offices and associated profits, with the loss of a jhost of small business activities, such as istrip clubs, amusements arcades, shops cand restaurants, in favour of bigger, ‘blander places which can afford the higher rents. ® (The distribution of prosperity isdangerously skewed. Withit ai affluent economy, minorities who _ are handicapped by ethnic preju- ‘dice or age or sickness tend to be. ieft behind to observe vicariously on television how the luckier three-quarters live. And, in plane- ‘tary society as a whole, it is threc- quarters who live badly and, as their numbers rise, face bleaiz: prospects of living better. To restore balance and hope, to moderate the despairs and pres- sures, to achieve common policies for .a viable political order, are thus the preconditions of any decent human environment on ‘Planet Earth. _ © LT think: it is something to do with the public attitude towards the environmen Phere js a climate 0 VU atte >STVSTtsaad OTL ing contidence that it will.” ® the Fleet Line producing a nett profit of at least £10 miliion. Another very recent example occurs in a residential development by a Sussex council who paid £24 million for some farm land whose value as a farm was a mere £17,000; the nett profit here being in excess of £2 million. . o aie co had ee oewe: deRab onese edeae aae acesa paced ihe esdeSeieeseae aeen a RElS aSe Be «i ' Tf estate agents aré right in sensing a 12 per cent rise In West End office rents in the past year, it would bring the capital gain to around £10 millions, jess interest charges and maintenance costs. +. de a eeereeeeeooeee e ~“Camden’s irritation with the continuing emptiness of Centre Point--and its sister building, Space House, off Wingsway —--is two-edged., Not only are there 11,000 families on the ‘council’s housing waiting list while the 36 flats of Centre Point stand empty, ‘but it is estimated that the /council has Jost nearly £1 mii- lion in rates; because the two buildings, being empty, pay only half rates. “Tt is a lunatic use of the and. If we cannot do better than that, it’ is a great criticism of the way our society carries on,” Mrs Miller said. If the council is able to force a showdown over Centre Point it will be the first body te do so. ‘The developers have so far been content to sit on en asset which is rapidly gaining in’ capital vaiue as rents in Lon- don continue to rise. The theory behind this ts presumably that as most office lettings are for a fixed period ‘of five, seven or more years, it is more profitable to get, +say, £8 a square foot next year than settle for £6 this year, ‘The snag has been that with office rents continuing to rise—one cstate agent esti- ‘mated by as much as 12 per eent jo the West End in the past year alone—there hes never been 4 strong inceniive for Oldhani states to close 3 nent in land is “ ise who gat hers deal. ‘ Its emptiness, as such, 1s not likely to frighten the The project cost £5 millions. On the basis that its 150,000 square feet covid developers. have been rented at £4 a isquare foot in 1964, the build- ing would have been wer £9 miliions—-£4 millions profit. Last year it was estimated that if Mr Hyams could get £6 2 square foot, the capital ‘value of the building would ‘be over £13 millions, giving him a profit of £8 millions. eeHeBowe6 eae ‘, \*% carats *e There seems to be no reason why some, if not all, of these profits should not go into the local authority purse to spend on social provisions. After all, it is the community that is creating the profit. To re-restablish public initiative in development projects, to substantiate the economic basis of public building, would be to redirect town planning out of the rut which, to quote from a recent article in the Guardian, only consists in granting planning consents, to its true role of meeting the needs of the community. This is an issue which politicians’in this country have actively supported for many years. Winston Churchill, speaking on the People's Rights in his reforming Budget of 1909, said hope you will understand that when I speak of the land monopolist, I am dealing more with the precess then with the individual land~owner. T have no wish to hold any class up to public disapprobation. I do not think that the man who wakes money by unearned incre morally a worse man than anyone e his profit where he finds it in this hard world under the law and according to common usage. it is not the individual I attack, it is the system. Tt is not the man who vis bad, it is the law which is bad. Tt is not theyman who is blameworthy for doing what the law allows and what other man do; it is the State which would be blameworthy were it not to endeavour to reform the law and correct the practice. We do not want to punish the landlord. We want to alter the law.' The outcome of the reforms was curtailed by the advent of the First World War and opposition from the House of Lords. But in 1931 the Labour Government of Ramsey MacDonald passed the Finance het which introduced the principle of Land Value taxation It was an impropitious time for such a measure, the world economic crisis and the collapse of the Government leading to the Coelition, caused the Act to be suspended and eventually repealed. The issue was raised again, in 1936 when, following a Renort by its Finance Coiimittee, the London County Council aporoved a policy for legislation to give Lt effect. As the Government declined to act, the L.C.C. tabled a Private Bill, the London Rating (Site Values) Bill of 1938. The Bill wes defeated and once again war intervened to frustrate reform which had mach supvort from local authorities in the country. the economic rights of the community with respect to land. Because it is this issue which forms the basis AAAS (Eee ofplanninglaw,thereformsshouldbestudiedinany \\ <<ae consideration of planning reform. X To conclude in our present times, the Government in \ 1965 presented the Land Commission, of which the opening paragraph reads: 'For centuries the claim of private landowners to develop their land unhindered and to enjoy the exclusive right to profit from socially created values when their lend is developed has been questioned, especially when the land is sold to the comminity which itself has created the value realised. The view that control over development must be exercised by the community is not now seriously disputed and it is generally accepted that the value attached to land by A. All planning proposals to be published on an obligatory basis. The information to be thorough, factual and available in time for objections to be made. All interested parties in an organisation seeking planning approval should be named. beginning of a retreat from realis- ine their full human potential. ®;: 9 7 ui starvation. When we remember ‘under what continuous stimulus of natural variety ~ of colour, of ‘scent, of sound and light and congeea et ete oo Each of the measures mentioned above sought reform of HELD STA i the right to develop it is a value which has ” a substantially been created by the community. A growing population, increasingly making their homes in ro i | ie | great cities, has not only made effective public control over land indispensable; it has also made indefensible a system which allows landowners or land % penenyevaapeeneesnaeteencomment 7. anor-1ieeeree le BmyNtTH.themiddieofthelastcen- 5 co wW # e Sas very large, in value of urban land resulting either . onaieee from government action, whether central or local, or from the growth of social wealth and population’. a Sis the vetrictions Xl’ about heights of building were, ‘relaxed so that landlords might make pavements shuffle through thick exhaust fumes over- looked by that symbol of speculators enterprise - the ultimate Architects’! and Planners' non-event Centre Point (now empty for eight years). © '.7} We do notfully understand the If satisfactory civilised urban standards are ever to be achieved it is evident that now is the time for a cool, hard look at the operants in planning and design and to ask how despite teams of seemingly skilled professionals at Central and Local Government level the urban scene has become steadily worse since the last war. i touch — the first men began to develop their imaginative grasp upon living reality and feel their ? athe ‘ Concurrent with such an examination, planning controls creative humanity, we may. wonder what will be the result of must be overhauled as an emergency measure, legislation must be brought to bring about monitoring systems which subject all planning proposals to real scrutiny in public interest - a basis for this is outlined below:- acontinuous adaptation ofhuman more money, the skyline of the City of longer-term results of extreme cultural, ethical and emotional _way towards fully conscious and existence, over centuries, to ‘towering buildings, concrete walls, personal isolation, darkened skies, roaring traffic, raucous noise, see ssacalsccesaMhanciDinnaka wlRO aSa Nna A APRTBEaOScsii fis iat i= For the unconvinced I suggest a walk from Oxford London seen above the Thames must have been the most beautiful in Europe. SARISF-A j 5BIE Circus to Tottenham Court Road on a late night “We can se this from the paintings of shopping evening. » Canaletio and hear it from Words- ; ‘ : wills !worth’s sonnet On Westminster Bridge. People packed like herd enimals on inadequate - = 7 any Silt _polluted water and dirty streets.. Such an urban environment might begin to produce human whose very ability to survive in such conditions could mark the beings. Be Demolition of any building to be the subject of a permission with full opportunity for the people in the area to object. A time lag should be introduceé inte the procedure to ailow proper consideraticn to take place. All urban fabric to be given conservation area status so that redevelopment takes place only after thorough appraisal. All buildings tc be listed and classified as part of the conservation process So as to avoid the 'fashionable' and ‘obvious set piece! preservation stances. - Monitoring groups to be established on a formal Kee es | h - ‘ yehae To. ~ : @% : ° is basis both inside (Professional participation) and ©J All major building and development schemes to be appraised by a body elected by the oil dock ins ( wae ( )Erie Lyons in AJ ()Paul Jennings (Guardian 4 > e eser Strieter penalties (1)Evenibg Standard (2)Architects Journal led So the working party has been pre- sented with such ideas as stric trols for demolition, the 0: a tax on the value added ¢ planning consent, stricter penalti unlet offices and shops in new develop- ments in central areas and str regulations for the protection f servation areas, In addition, 0 the problem of ensuring how fonants of long standing, both res j tial and businesses, should be equivalent premises, when r 5 development, and at rents in scale with their previous ievel. / Delaying tactics are also a possibility, It is not generally realised that : ship of land is not a pre-req the submission of a planning ls “ion. Nowadays the owner has to he informed but there is nothing to stop = Beinedieetm Baw ie 4 j basis covering locaal infiilll schemes totc nati:onal4 eccnomi+c|/indeluastria4l,/ Dondon with al our elaborate plan: sdalew anentpryl tcc hy be eh ecome as Te a aes pid Bg ‘aa transport pohicy colusmaidnreicenstlty. “It's late to get a gitip. Wt 1 | i " 4 : © int Bis would demand esecess t 5 ~ ana shat - 7 ee . aut plans and proposals they have no right to irampie down Dic | i and work in conjunction with shadow structures .of iaa familiar streets. and disregard the ; i arrech’itecCtuss. : pplleenners 34 sSoolliicelitvoorrs, engi¢neersok SOCi GLOLV SUS » etc.,; heing an organised version or ‘character and scale and peopolfea : : ‘oeSs walitasty? city simply because it is convenient, i ‘ economic, or highly profitable. B uiathastetets cd aa - ‘ 6 - | : comment | 2.2 Public interest avpriasal P.T.A. | | outside (Public participation) the Central and Local anyone, providing they ah in the forms correctly and know what they are about, from putting forward theiy own i 7 ideas for proper consideration by the : | 4 te 4 when he pushed in an application to i \11 schemes produced by public authorities should convert Centre Point into flats, though { 4 rott Sante a : . be vetted by internally elected professionals av . this one was referred back for techn calreasons. However, Itseems me- 4 4 an officer level below that in contact with what extraordinary that filibustering 0! ‘ | time basis and their comment would be made public. MTA.opalata at wark 4 seec bs ate . Mr Anth@sy |Crosland oe nat halton,majoraeveopmentmWceniras ; ii vee quality of work is suriic biy high no department need fear this type of appraisal London at least until the verdict is ‘available on the Greater London Development Plan. Other suggestions shave included some kind of planing 1 oe hon bering bodies to be established on a twe tier i : Lend i eae “ : Pl g Public participation. inauiry. commission te consider the pwronbylerm. 4 anid a ian “ny at 4 4 a “ . acs 4 4 : : ‘a y 4 i Ldatl: 9 Governmmeenntt FPlaanninging =and Archi:tectduenrevis ses sieniean des departments. 5 Professional h fessional participation. de : i, re sot : . - = 3 committees . These groups would serve on a limited this sort which could give a breathing Space, has not been moreprevelent. \ 2.1 Area Yetting groups A.V.G. intreduce the London (Ce Buliding) aay Extreme, ‘ many existing should be published permissions. the whole spectrum of planning installations. from ning COnuBEE he oeue e kican. Absatdragasl, a theird-rAartcehitectAsm!ericaJnournciatly',s lie Qn a street or neighbourhood basis these groups Sut developers, public anc Tate, ‘must somehow be made awere ‘thet protest groups. AeV.G. together with all planning This would operate at a town. city or regional ms v regione 12, e references: o Slidtp aes: nate0'sli Iho council. Mr Berman showed the way Uy or Hd od ineffective body the R Fi Arts Commissi ineffective body the Royal Fine Arts Commission. . “ebdly :; A.V.G.'s described above. The intention here (3}Roger Walters in . Times interview. would be to replace and revitalise and put on a more socially conscious basis that tired and )John Bet jeman. )Observer Groups of P.I.A.'s could join in assessing nationally significant proposals such as mn installati cas} OWS ACID GLC Architecture Club News, Room 671(D),County Hall North Block Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource ACID Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived John Allan Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource Undated https://nam.maydayrooms.org/files/original/4955637d6c938807250190160c62f70f.pdf f5ab61498263d237be9ee736cc3788c7 https://nam.maydayrooms.org/files/original/d17572da4bcc2c5fa2c17f38cab4efba.pdf 144ff3262e704c9b4f40f1e4888812af Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Public Design Group Description An account of the resource Argued that it was only through the public sector that the majority of people could have access to the land and resources needed for housing, education and other essential services. The task was therefore to reform the practice of architecture in local councils to provide an accessible and accountable design service. The Public Design Group proposed reforms to the practice of architecture in local councils to provide a design service accessible and accountable to local people and service users. The following 6 Interim Proposals were developed which were later initiated and implemented in Haringey Council 1979-1985 by NAM members. <ul><li style="font-weight:400;">Local area control over resources </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Design teams to be area based </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Area design teams to be multi-disciplinary </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Project architects to report directly to committee</li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Abolish posts between Team Leader and Chief Architect </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Joint working groups with Direct Labour Organisations</li> </ul> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Interim Proposals Subject The topic of the resource Six bullet points for an 'effective Public Design Service' Description An account of the resource Interim Proposals To achieve an effective Public Design Service the NAM Public Design Group proposes local authority design and build teams which are area based and which will be accountable to users and tenants. We suggest the following interim proposals which are feasible now and which create the potential for further change : : LOCAL AREA CONTROL OVER RESOURCES. x DESIGN TEAMS SHOULD BE AREA BASED INSTEAD OF FUNCTION BASED. . AREA DESIGN TEAMS SHOULD BE MULTIDISCIPLINARY. = JOB ARCHITECTS SHOULD REPORT DIRECTLY TO COMMITTEE. . ABOLISH POSTS BETWEEN TEAM LEADER AND CHIEF ARCHITECT. Public Design Group New Architecture 9 Poland Street London W 1 Movement * ESTABLISH JOINT WORKING GROUPS WITH DIRECT LABOUR ORGANISATIONS. For further information contact : Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource PDS Group Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived John Allan Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource Undated https://nam.maydayrooms.org/files/original/739ed751b8192b860b33c05918f782fa.pdf 74078630bd6cd0edd2fc32a719723e5c Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Public Design Group Description An account of the resource Argued that it was only through the public sector that the majority of people could have access to the land and resources needed for housing, education and other essential services. The task was therefore to reform the practice of architecture in local councils to provide an accessible and accountable design service. The Public Design Group proposed reforms to the practice of architecture in local councils to provide a design service accessible and accountable to local people and service users. The following 6 Interim Proposals were developed which were later initiated and implemented in Haringey Council 1979-1985 by NAM members. <ul><li style="font-weight:400;">Local area control over resources </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Design teams to be area based </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Area design teams to be multi-disciplinary </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Project architects to report directly to committee</li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Abolish posts between Team Leader and Chief Architect </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Joint working groups with Direct Labour Organisations</li> </ul> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource NDS Group Subject The topic of the resource Minutes of meeting of NDS Group on 2.6. 77 Description An account of the resource NGI ALCINTE= TURE MevEMEDT i ~dWbPapareAiagymnnshoui~gveelpellicle, LAS| SotmheaeasorlecloneafAA 197%.YadbocmfoetTonle.J, 25 IM sumpocted might bo exrvttotule % dp suns af 3-4 Arclultet> bypartmenk fordoutactuel fast 2rheng teebisiby a] tobeArclubicte Tenant, Could Car be queled talkerihrernbying OM anontasS, IM Choe LIZAT ofSone 2ypay cago-dnbicleLyMales. YU, Tiere fate WT. Le Wo bavitrttornr RIBAS FETIOA) A larg part of He mecong vias then 4p tn dicusstug and Arelling a tb an tmvtfatton Chatter M “atu fo dicuce suth dain agocts4 Conunumity trebiclure ene) toprrtiapale dn a Wotleg Group constlote-g The (918 RIBA Coufoatvet wAthasuibrjoelofetucl. tllbeComretsaulfucbulteture, (M has ontgiat ofRUA (ole.at prevent), hedecided to ryluce, The Maca aye qr bn ouv nly Ye Chatles Kia 2. cop PR, of whut. wll be cent & Me Lunor Grp UDS hep! Wbom,2une(917, Monudes J Meng bold af 5MiltonAvenue Present: doleMilton»Dawid,Lasletrcte,YoonHerneed Meleyes : MovitleMongar 2:0 Ola bugmecs | 2 D2 npeled an Musiq Cherries .He colJaepzn aoufrag ceed i PP. 22 JA reported on WEA tHe coll alto profane a ont ogy Site man. VA - 23 IM rf orled mn. onfaa bien poten on Miteonal Asercahe~ of (euits Eedaakas cual Arsiatiar of Murweupal Aulboulior ,de “tll ny 0 mela well. ths forte fat etext MOS muliig wt a ven) “9 | ved, 3-0HeepHeeli-4{ Mavadend23dime197at7:30ponaf25StGungesMenus 4-0 Dishibufion: — There paecont Neville. Megan, Mary Scott, lean Group). Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource John Murray Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived John Allan Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2.6.77 https://nam.maydayrooms.org/files/original/bdb5e9cb2e9f7559217304f4bee83fc4.pdf dc28c305ca5dac7724e782731dd36847 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Public Design Group Description An account of the resource Argued that it was only through the public sector that the majority of people could have access to the land and resources needed for housing, education and other essential services. The task was therefore to reform the practice of architecture in local councils to provide an accessible and accountable design service. The Public Design Group proposed reforms to the practice of architecture in local councils to provide a design service accessible and accountable to local people and service users. The following 6 Interim Proposals were developed which were later initiated and implemented in Haringey Council 1979-1985 by NAM members. <ul><li style="font-weight:400;">Local area control over resources </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Design teams to be area based </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Area design teams to be multi-disciplinary </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Project architects to report directly to committee</li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Abolish posts between Team Leader and Chief Architect </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Joint working groups with Direct Labour Organisations</li> </ul> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The National Design Service Subject The topic of the resource Minutes of meeting of NDS Group on 19.5.77 Description An account of the resource NEW ARCHITECTURE MOVEMENT The National Design Service Group Association. to the metropolitan death-wish syndrome, which dampened optimistic change. Minutes of Meeting on 19.5.77 at J.S.A.'s. Present: John Allan, John Murray, Neville Morgan & David Roebuck JeA. introduced meeting, suggesting that following the endorsement of J.M.'s work at Blackpool, our current task was to develov the work to the level of concerted action and be in a position to report real progress at the 3rd Congress. Much like the Unionization Group we had now to build on the foundatioonf theory already acheived by approaching outside bodies and taking interim steps towards the albeit indefined ultimate goal. DR. agreed that it should now be action's turn to influence and modify the theory. change: Community Groups, SERA, Supports ete. Jeli. recommended that our approach should be twofold, reflecting the two agencies involved in the process of institutionalised social building; on the one hand to the architects et al. by means of the public sector unions, and on the other to the tenants and communities by means of such bodies as the National Tenants NM. urged, to general agreement, that NAM's method was generally to work within the structure towards achieving change, rather than by "direct action’ on the streets — the latter being too easy prey to various sorts of official control. D.R. suggested that the preferred means was to 'de-officialise! the official types of services, while at the same time coordinating the 'unofficial' agencies of Ji. thought that criteria for selection of a particular Local Authority for development of our ideas, should include the readiness amongst the rank and file architects, housing officers etc. to act collectively through their union to acheive changes, the existence of a state of 'institutional instability’ ( e.¢. going through a process of being rehoused in new offices, or work=sharing with other agencies) and the likelyltiood that non®London authorities were less prone RESOLVED P.T.O. /2 NAM NDS. Meeting RESOLVED: 19.5677 her colleagues within the Authority. Gopies of this minute to: Next NDS. Meeting: John Murray's, 5, Milton Avenue, N. 6. Thursday, 2nd June, at 7.30 pm. ISA. 29/5/77 Cm Other avenues: Canvass suggestion that Tass / Building Design Staffs Union National Advisory Committee's task of making comparative study of the public and private sectors takes into consideration the N.D.S. proposal. ixplore possibilities of using Birmingham Authority as N.D.S. testbed by building on G.B.A.C. contacts and encouraging D.R.'s friend Claire to rally J.M. to investigate and make contact with National Tenants Association and Shelter. Jelie also to reread his papers with a view to producing a concise discussion paper for use in approaching outside bodies. JeA. to investigate the National Building Agency. DR. to investigate the Housing Corporation, N.l. to investigate NALGO ACTION as a possible vehicle for achieving changes. John Murray, Neville Morgan, David Roebuck, Mary Scott & NAM Liasom Group. Drag tna yf ne SuednQ ADH Ry . Res emASA, Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource JSA Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived John Allan Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 19.5.77 https://nam.maydayrooms.org/files/original/54c84b3f9580a50bc8050ba2b7ad4730.pdf dd9fa473ae21b57994e20a4b8bdd7c13 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Public Design Group Description An account of the resource Argued that it was only through the public sector that the majority of people could have access to the land and resources needed for housing, education and other essential services. The task was therefore to reform the practice of architecture in local councils to provide an accessible and accountable design service. The Public Design Group proposed reforms to the practice of architecture in local councils to provide a design service accessible and accountable to local people and service users. The following 6 Interim Proposals were developed which were later initiated and implemented in Haringey Council 1979-1985 by NAM members. <ul><li style="font-weight:400;">Local area control over resources </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Design teams to be area based </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Area design teams to be multi-disciplinary </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Project architects to report directly to committee</li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Abolish posts between Team Leader and Chief Architect </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Joint working groups with Direct Labour Organisations</li> </ul> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource A Ladder of Citizen Participation Subject The topic of the resource Article from AIP Journal copied by John Allan to NDS Group on 17.5 77 Description An account of the resource —. Kam /mid-o >» LamDen/ AG (S oe I>. Ou QOSBu vo a5/ man Ves77 So NETLLAEAree 7 ot i ©]. Lnweny Ant) tytn hes, TT rene. ~ Ahen 2 aoha oo — / LOus 052 Ones Ue “ws HKPe SfLOK. ATI , |sy 6 OL Sl Al 2\Fr0.Q4 Bs 69 BALL wo,Asod WCWLIC wn! Lectin, ord & Vas Cu Arr LO, AQ, Qke1We Adepron. short: What is citizen participation and what is its relationship to the social imperatives of our time? Citizen Participation is Citizen Power Because the question has been a bone of political conten- tion, most of the answers have been purposely buried in innocuous euphemisms like “self-help” or “citizen involvement.’’ Still others have been embellished with misleading rhetoric like “‘absolute control’’ which is something no one—including the President of the Sherry R. Arnstein is Director of Community Development Studies for The Commons, a non-profit research institute in Washington, D.C. and Chicago. She is a former Chief Advisor on Citizen Participation in HUD’s Model Cities Administra- tion and has served as Staff Consultant to the President’s Committee on Juvenile Delinquency, Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of HEW, and Washington Editor of Current Magazine. you pavjicipate; he participates; we participate; you paryicipate , . . They profit. 216 AIP JOURNAL JULY 1969 Sle 64. EMPTY RITUAL VERSUS BENEFIT There is a critical difference between going through the empty ritual of participation and having the real power needed to affect the outcome of the process. This difference is brilliantly capsulized in a poster painted last spring by the French students to explain the student- worker rebellion.?, (See Figure 1.) The poster highlights the fundamental point that_participation without redistribution of power is an empty and frus- trating process for the powerless. It allows the power- holders to claim that all sides were considered but makes itpossible for only some of those sides to beneitt. It maintains the status quo. Essentially, it ts what has | ’ The idea of citizen participation is a little like eating spinach: no one is against it in principle because it is good for you. Participation of the gov- erned in theic government is, in theory, the corner- stone of democracy—a revered idea that is vigorously applauded by virtually everyone. The applause is re- duced to polite handclaps, however, when this princi- ple is advocated by the have-not blacks, Mexican- Americans, Puerto Ricans, Indians, Eskimos, and whites. And when the have-nots define participation as re- distribution of power, the American consensus on the fundamental principle explodes into many shades of outright racial, ethnic, opposition. | “4 There have been many recent speeches, articles, and books! which explore in detail who are the have-nots of our time. There has been much recent documenta- tion of why the have-nots have become so offended and embittered by their powerlessness to deal with the pro- found inequities and injustices pervading their daily lives. But there has been very little analysis of the content of the current controversial slogan: participation” or “maximum feasible participation.” In an A LADDER OF CITIZEN PARTICIPATION , The heated controversy over “citizen participation,” “citizen control,” and “maximum feasible involvement of the poor,” has been waged largely in terms of ex- acerbated rhetoric and misleading euphemisms. To encourage a more enlightened dialogue, a typology of citizen participation is offered using examples from three federal social programs: urban renewal, anti- poverty, and Model Cities. The typology, which is designed to be provocative, is arranged in a ladder pattern with cach rung corresponding to the extent of citizens’ power in determining the plan and/or program. : ideological, and political “citizen A Mer Coan Lu strtute of Plan NEV Journ! 007 R.Arnstein United States—has or can have. Between understated euphemisms and exacerbated rhetoric, even scholars have found it difficult to follow the controversy. To the headline reading public, it is simply bewildering. My answer to the critical wat question is simply that citizen participation is a categorical term for citizen Hower, It is the redistribution of power that enables the 1ave-not citizens, presently excluded from the political and economic processes, to be deliberately included in the future. It is the strategy by which the have-nots join in determining how information ts shared, goals and policies are set, tax resources are allocated, programs are operated, and benefits like contracts and patronage are parceledout. Inshort,itisthemeabynwhsich theycan induce significant social reform which enables them to “share in the benefits of the affluent society. FIGURE 1 French §tudent Poster. In English, 1 participate; J tokenism because the groundrules allow have-nots to advise, but retain for the powerholders the continued right to decide. Further up the ladder are levels of citizen power with increasing degrees of decision-making clout. Citizens ARNSTEIN Another captian about the eight separate rungs on the ladder: In the rea} world of people and programs, there might be 15Q rungs with less sharp and ‘‘pure’’ distinc- tions among fhem, Furthermore, some of the character- istics used tq jllystrate each of the eight types might be 217 8 7 6 5 4 3 : ° 1 FIGURE 2 Citizen control Delegated power Partnership Placation Consultation Informing Therapy Manipulation Degrees = of citizen power Degrees — of tokenism can enter into a (6) Partnership that enables them to negotiate and engage in trade-offs with traditional powerholders. At the topmost rungs, (7) Delegated Power and (8) Citizen Control, have-not citizens obtain the majority of decision-making seats, or full managerial power. Obviously, the cight-rung ladder is a simplification, but it helps to illustrate the point that so many have missed—that there are significant gradations of citizen participation. Knowing these gradations makes itpossi- ble to cut through the hyperbole to understand the increasingly strident demands for participation from the have-nots as well as the gamut of confusing responses from the powerholders. Though the typology uses examples from federal programs such as urban renewal, anti-poverty, and Model Cities; it could just as easily be illustrated in the church, currently facing demands for power from priests and laymen who seek to change its mission; colleges and universities which in some cases have become literal battlegrounds over the issue of student power; or public schools, city halls, and police departments (or big busi- ness which is likely to be next on the expanding list of targets). The underlying issues are essentially the same —"nobodies” in several arenas are trying to become ‘‘somebodies” with enough power to make the target institutions responsive to their views, aspirations, and needs. LIMITATIONS OF THE TYPOLOGY The ladder juxtaposes powerless citizens with the powerful in order to highlight the fundamental di- visions between them. In actuality, neither the have-nots nor the powerholders are homogeneous blocs. Each group encompasses a host of divergent points of view, significant cleavages, competing vested interests, and splintered subgroups. The justification for using such simplistic abstractions is that in most cases the have-nots really do perceive the powerful as a monolithic “'sys- tem,” and powerholders actually do view the have-nots as a sea of “those people,” with little comprehension of the class and caste differences among them. It should be noted that the typology does not include an analysis of the most significant roadblocks to achtev- ing genuine levels of participation. These roadblocks lie on both sides of the simplistic fence. On the power- holders’ side, they include racism, paternalism, and resistance topower redistribution. On the have-nots’ side, they include inadequacies of the poor community's Eight Rungs on a Ladder of Citizen Partict- pation been happening in most of the 1,000 Community Action Programs, and what promises to be repeated in the vast majority of the 150 Model Cities programs. Types ofParticipation and “NonParticipation” A typology of eight /evels of participation may help in analysis of this confused issue. For illustrative pur- poses the eight types are arranged in a ladder pattern with each rung corresponding to the extent of citizens’ power in determining the end product. (See Figure 2.) The bottom rungs of the ladder are (1) Manzpula- | tion and (2) Therapy. These two rungs describe levels of “non-participation” that have been contrived by some ;to substitute for genuine participation. Their real ob- |jective is not to enable people to participate in planning _or conducting programs, but to enable powerholders to “educate” or “cure” the participants. Rungs 3 and 4 progress to levels of ‘‘tokenism” that allow the have- inots to hear and to have a voice: (3) Informing and (4) Consultation. When they are proffered by power- holders as the total extent of participation, citizens may ' indeed hear and be heard. But under these conditions — “] fasF “ waa ool Nonperticipation they lack the power to insure that their views will be heeded by the powerful. When participation is re-| political socipecanomic infrastructure and knowledge- base, plus difficulties of organizing a representative and “muscle,” hence no assurance of changing the status accountable fitizens’ group in the face of Entity, quo. Rung (5) Placation, is simply a higher level alienation, and distrust. stricted to these levels, there is no followthrough, no ianaa PREFERS re orHaat | One hopeful note is that, having been so grossly affronted, some citizens have learned the Mickey Mouse game, and now they too know how to play. Asa result | applicable to other rungs. For example, employment of the have-nots in a program or on a planning staff could occur at any of the eight rungs and could represent either a legitimate or illegitimate characteristic of citi- zen participation, Depending on their motives, power- holders can hire poor people to coopt them, to placate them, or to utilize the have-nots’ special skills and insights.4 Some mayors, in private, actually boast of their strategy in hiring militant black Icaders to muzzle them while destroying their credibility in the black community. The signators are not informed that the $2 million- per-year center will only refer residents to the same old waiting lines at the same old agencies across town. No one is asked if such a referral center is really needed in his neighborhood. No one realizes that the contractor for the building is the mayor's brother-in-law, or that the new director of the center will be the same old com- munity organization specialist from the urban renewal agency. After signing their names, the proud grassrooters dutifully spread she word that they have “participated” in bringing a new and wonderful center to the neighbor- hood to provide people with drastically needed jops and Characteristics and Illustrations It is in this context of power and powerlessness that the health and welfare services. Only after the ribbon- characteristics of the eight rungs are illustrated by cutting ceremony do the members of the neighborhood examples from current federal social programs. council realize that they didn't ask the important ques- tions, and that they had no technical advisors of their 1. MANIPULATION own to help them grasp the fine legal print. The new shiny new neighborhood center. Unfortunately, this chicanery is not a ynique example. Instead it is almost typical of what has been perpetrated in the name of high-sounding rhetoric like “grassroots participation.”Thisshamliesattheheartofthedeep- seated exasperation and hostility of the have-nots toward the powerholders. In the name of citizen participation, people are placed on rubberstamp advisory committees or advisory boards adds to their problems. Now the old agencies across for the express purpose of “educating” them or engi- town won't talk with them unless they have a pink paper neering their support. Instead of genuine citizen par- slip to prove that they have been referred by “their” ticipation, the bottom rung of the ladder signifies the distortion of participation into a public relations vehicle by powerholders. This illusory form of ‘‘participation’’ initially came intovoguewithurbanrenewalwhenthesociallyelite were invited by city housing officials to serve on Citizen Advisory Committees (CACs). Another target of ma- nipulation were the CAC subcommittees on minority groups, which in theory were to protect the rights of Negroes in the renewal program. In practice, these subcommittees, like their parent CACs, functioned of this knowledge, they are demanding genuine levels mostly as letterheads, trotted forward at appropriate times to promote urban renewal plans (in recent years known asNegro removal plans). At meetings of the Citizen Advisory Committees, it "was the officials who educated, persuaded, and advised the citizens, not the reverse. Federal guidelines for the renewal programs legitimized the manipulative agenda by emphasizing the terms ‘‘information-gathering,” “public relations,” and “‘support’’ as the explicit func- tions of the committees.* This style of nonparticipation has since been applied to other programs encompassing the poor. Examples of this are seen in Community Action Agencies (CAAs) which have created structures called “neighborhood councils’ or “neighborhood advisory groups.’ These of participation to assuge them that public programs are relevant to their needs and responsive to their priorities. bodies frequently have no legitimate function or power.® The CAAs use them to “prove” that ‘“‘grassroots \changing the racism 4nd victimization that create their people” are involved in the program. But the programm may not have been discussed with ‘‘the people.’” Or it may have been described at a meeting in the most general terms; “We need your signatures on this pro- posal for a multiservice center which will house, under one roof, doctors from the health department, workers from the welfare department, and specialists from the that afternoon of pneumanja and dehydration. The employment service.” overwrought father cqmplained to the board of the local 218 Alp JOURNAL JULY 1969 center, which is open 9 to 5 on weekdays only, actually 2. THERAPY In some respects group therapy, masked as citizen par- ticipation, should be gn the Jowest rung of the ladder because it is both dishonest and arrogant. Its adminis- trators—mental health experts from social workers to _psychiatrists—assume shat powerlessness is synonymous with mental illness. Qn this assumption, under a mas- querade of involving ¢itizens in planning, the experts subject the citizens ty clinical group therapy. What makes this form of “participation” so invidious is that citizens are engaged ip extensive activity, but the focus of it is on curing them of thejr ‘‘pathology’’ rather than pathologies.” Consider an incidept that occurred in Pennsylvania less than one year ago, When a father took his seriously il baby to the emergency clijnic.of a local hospital, a young resident physicjan on duty instructed him to take the baby home and feed it sygar water, The baby died Community Action Agency. Instead of launching an investigation of the hospital to determine what changes would prevent similar deaths or other forms of mal- practice, the board invited the father to attend the CAA’s (therapy) child-care sessions for parents, and promised him that someone would “telephone the hos- pital director to see that it never happens again.” Less dramatic, but more common examples of therapy, masquerading as citizen participation, may be seen in public housing programs where tenant groups are used as vehicles for promoting control-your-child or cleanup campaigns. The tenants are brought together to help them ‘‘adjust their values and attitudes to those of the larger society.” Under these groundrules, they are diverted from dealing with such important matters as: arbitrary evictions; segregation of the housing proj- ect; or why is there a three-month time lapse to get a broken window replaced in winter. The complexity of the concept of mental illness in our time can be seen in the experiences of student /civil rights workers facing guns, whips, and other forms of terror in the South. They needed the help of socially attuned psychiatrists to deal with their fears and to avoid paranoia.’ 3. INFORMING Informing citizens of their rights, responsibilities, and options can be the most important first step toward legitimate citizen participation. However, too frequently the emphasis is placed on a one-way flow of information —from officials to citizens—with no channel provided for feedback and no power for negotiation. Under these conditions, particularly when information isprovided at a late stage in planning, people have little opportunity to influence the program designed “for their benefit.” The most frequent tools used for such one-way com- munication are the news media, pamphlets, posters, and responses to inquiries. Meetings can also be turned into vehicles for one-way communication by the simple device of providing super- ficial information, discouraging questions, or giving irrelevant answers. At a recent Model Cities citizen planning meeting in Providence, Rhode Island, the topic the official, the citizens accepted the “information” and endorsed the agency's proposal to place four lots in the white neighborhood.* 4. CONSULTATION Inviting citizens’ opinions, like informing them, can be a legitimate step toward their full participation. But if consulting them is not combined with other modes of participation, this rung of the ladder is still a sham since it offers no assurance that citizen concerns and ideas will be taken into account. The most frequent methods used for consulting people are attitude surveys, neighborhood meetings, and public hearings. When powerholders restrict the input of citizens’ ideas solely to this level, participation remains just a window-dressing ritual. People are primarily perceived as statistical abstractions, and participation is measured by how many come to meetings, take brochures home, or answer a questionnaire. What citizens achieve in all this activity is that they have “participated in participa- tion.’” And what powerholders achieve is the evidence that they have gone through the required motions of involving ‘'those people.” Attitude surveys have become a particular bone of ARNSTEIN i 219 «Pee contention in ghetto neighborhoods. creasingly unhappy about the number of times per week they are surveyed about their problems and hopes. As one woman put it: ‘Nothing ever happens with those damned questions, except the surveyer gets $3 an hour, and my washing doesn’t get done that day.” In some communities, residents are so annoyed that they are demanding a fee for research interviews. Attitude surveys are not very valid indicators of com- munity opinion when used without other input from citizens, Survey after survey (paid for out of anti- poverty funds) has ‘‘documented”’ that poor housewives most want tot-lots in their neighborhood where young children can play safely. But most of the women an- swered these questionnaires without knowing what their options were. They assumed that if they asked for something small, they might just get something useful Residents are in- a (a ie ‘in the neighborhood. Had the mothers known that a free prepaid health insurance plan was a possible option, they might not have put tot-lots so high on their wish lists. A classic misuse of the consultation rung occurred at aNew Haven, Connecticut, community meeting held to consult citizens on a proposed Model Cities. grant. James V. Cunningham, in an unpublished report to the Ford Foundation, described the crowd as large and “mostly hostile:”’ ® tives, almost all of whom were attending three to five meetings a week, devoted an hour to a discussion of the placement of six tot-lots. The neighborhood is half black, half white. Several of the black representatives noted that four tot-lots were proposed for the white district and only two for the black. The city official responded with alengthy, highly technical explanation about costs per square foot and available property. It was clear that most of the residents did not understand his explanation. And it was clear to observers from the Office of Economic Opportunity that other options did exist which, considering available funds, would have brought about a more equitable distribution of facilities. Intimidated by futility, legalistic jargon, and prestige of was ‘‘tot-lots.” A group of elected citizen representa- . Members of The Hil] Parents Association de- manded to know why fesidents had not partici- pated in drawing up the praposal. CAA director Spitz explained that it was merely a proposal for seeking Federal planning funds—that once funds were obtained, residenty would be deeply involved in the planning. An oytside observer who sat in patie vices 5. PLACATION It is at this level that citizens begin to have some degree of influence though tokenism is still apparent. An example of placation strategy is to place a few hand- picked ‘‘worthy” poor on boards of Community Action Agencies or on public bodies like the board of educa- tion, police commission, or housing authority. If they are not accountable to a constituency in the community and if the traditional power elite hold the majority of seats, the have-nots can be easily outvoted and outfoxed. Another example is the Model Cities advisory and planning committees. They allow citizens to advise or plan ad infinitum but retain for powerholders the right to judge the legitimacy or feasibility of the advice. The degree to which citizens are actually placated, of course, depends largely on two factors: the quality of technical- \ ambiguity is likely to cause considerable conflict at the assistance they have in articulating their priorities; and the extent to which the community has been organized to press for those priorities. ‘end of the one-year planning process. For at this point, citizens may realize that they have once again exten- sively “participated” but have not profited beyond the extent the powerholders decide to placate them, It is not surprising that the level of citizen participa- tion in the vast majority of Model Cities programs is at the placation rung of the ladder or below. Policy- 1968 before the second round of seventy-five planning makers at the Department of Housing and Urban De- grants were awarded) were released in a December velopment (HUD) were determined to return the genie 1968 HUD bulletin.11 Though this public document ofcitizenpowertothebottlefromwhichithadescaped usesmuchmoredelicateanddiplomaticlanguage,it 220 AIP TOVIRATAY warn Results of a staff study (conducted in the summer of (in a few cities) as a result of the provision stipulating “maximum feasible participation” in poverty programs. Therefore, HUD channeled its physical-social-cconomic rejuvenation approach for blighted neighborhoods through city hall. It drafted legislation requiring that al Model Cities’ money flow to a local City Demonstra- tion Agency (CDA) through the elected city council, As enacted by Congress, this gave local city councils final veto power over planning and programming and ruled out any direct funding relationship between community groups and HUD. HUD required the CDAs to create coalition, policy- making boards that would include necessary local power- holders to create a comprehensive physical-social plan during the first year. The plan was to be carried out in a subsequent five-year action phase. HUD, unlike OEO, did not require that have-not citizens be included on the CDA decision-making boards. HUD's Performance Standards for Citizen Participation only demanded that “citizens have clear and direct access to the decision- making process.” Accordingly, the CDAs structuted their policy- making boards to include some combination of elected officials; school representatives; housing, health, and welfare officials; employment and police department representatives, and various civic, labor, and business leaders. Some CDAs included citizens from the neigh- borhood. Many mayors correctly interpreted the HUD provision for “access to the decision-making process’ as the escape hatch they sought to relegate citizens to the traditional advisory role. Most CDAs created residents’ advisory committees. An alarmingly significant number created citizens’ policy boards and citizens’ policy committees which are totally misnamed as they have either no policy-making function or only a very limited authority. Almost every CDA created about a dozen planning committees or task forces on functional lines: health, welfare, education, housing, and unemployment. were invited to serve on these committees along with technicians from relevant public agencies. Some CDAs, on the other hand, structured planning committees of technicians and parallel committees of citizens. In most cases, have-not citizens In most Model Cities programs, endless time has been spent fashioning complicated board, committee, and task force structures for the planning year. But the rights and responsibilities of the various elements of those structures are not defined and are ambiguous. Such the audience described the mecting this way: “Spitz and Mel Adams ran the meeting on their own, No representatives of a Hill group mod- erated or even sat on the stage. Spitz told the 300 residents that this huge meeting was an example of ‘participation in planning.’ To prove this, since there was a Jot of dissatisfaction in the audience, he called for ‘a ‘vote’ on each component of the proposal. The vote took this form: ‘Can I see the hands of al those in favor of a health clinic? All those opposed?’ It was alittle like asking who favors motherhood.” It was a combination of the deep suspicion aroused at this meeting and a long history of similar forms of “window-dressing participation” that led New Haven residents to demand control of the program. By way of contrast, it is useful to look at Denver where technicians learned that even the best intentioned among them are often unfamiliar with, and even in- sensitive to, the problems and aspirations of the poor. The technical director of the Model Cities program has described the way professional planners assumed that the residents, victimized by high-priced local storekeep- ers, “badly needed consumer education.” 1° The resi- dents, on the other hand, pointed out that the local storekeepers performed avaluable function. Although they overcharged, they also gave credit, offered advice, and frequently were the only neighborhood place to cash welfare or salary checks. As a result of this con- sultation, technicians and residents agreed to substitute the creation of needed neighborhood for a consumer education program. credit institutions in the 7 ARNSTEIN technicians, lawyers, and community organizers. With these ingredients, citigens have some genuine bargain- 6. PARTNERSHIP At this rung of the ladder, power is in fact redistributed through negotiation ketween citizens and powerholders. They agree to sharg planning and decision-making responsibilities through such structures as joint policy boards, planning coramittees and mechanisms for re- solving impasses. After the groundrules have been established through some farm of give-and-take, they are not subject to unilateral change. Partnership can wark most effectively when there is an organized power-base jn the commynity to which the citizen leaders are accpuntable; when the citizens group has the financial resoyrces ta pay its leaders reasonable honoraria for their time-consuming efforts; and when the group has the respurces to hire (and fire) its own 221 attests to the already cited criticisms of non-policy- It also urge. CDAs to experiment with subcontracts makingpolicyboardsandambiguouscomplicatedstruc- underwhichtheresidents’groupscouldhiretheirown tures, in addition to the following findings: 1. Most CDAs did not negotiate citizen par- trusted technicians. A more recent evaluation was cisculated in February ticipation requirements with residents. 2. Citizens, drawing on past negative experi- 1969 by OST], a private firm that entered into a con- tract with OEO to provide technical assistance and trajn- ing to citizens involved in Model Cities programs in the northeast region of the country. OSTI's report to OEO corroborates the earlier study. In addition it states: 2 ences with local powerholders, were extremely sus- picious of this new panacea program. They were legiti- mately distrustful of city hall’s motives. 3. Most CDAs were not working with citizens’ groups that were genuinely representative of model neighborhoods and accountable to neighborhood con- stituencies. As in so many of the poverty programs, those wha were involved were more representative of the upwardly mobile working-class. Thus their ac- quiescence to plans prepared by city agencies was not In practically no Mcadel Cities structure does citi- zen patticipaticn mean truly shared decision- making, such that citizens might view themselves as“thepartnersinthisprogram. .,.” likely to reflect the views of the unemployed, the young, the more militant residents, and the hard-core poor. In general, citizens are finding it impossible to have a significant impact on the comprehensive planning which is going on. In most cases the staff planners of the CDA and the plaryners of existing agencies are carrying out the actual planning with citizens having a peripheral role of watchdog and, ultimately, the “rubber stamp” of the plan gen- erated. In cases where citizens fave the direct responsibility for generating program plans, the time period allowed and the independent technical 4. Residents who were participating in as many as three to five meetings per week were unaware of their minimum rights, responsibilities, and the options avail- able ta them under the program. For example, they did nat realize that they were not required to accept techni- cal help from city technicians they distrusted. resources being made available to them are not adequate to allow them to do anything more than generate very traditional approaches to the prob- lems they are attempting to solve. 5. Most of the technical assistance provided by CDAs and city agencies was of third-rate quality, paternalistic, and condescending. Agency technicians did not suggest innovative options. They reacted bu- reaucratically when the residents pressed for innovative approaches, The vested interests of the old-line city agencies were amajor—albeit hidden—agenda. In general, little or na thought has been given to the means of insuring continued citizen partici- pation during the stage of implementation. In most cases, traditiqnal agencies are envisaged as the implementors of [lode] Cities pragrams and few mechanisms have peen developed for encouraging organizational chapge or change in the method of program delivery within these agencies or for in- suring that citizeng will have some influence over these agencies as they implement Model Cities programs. ... 6. Most CDAs were not engaged in planning that was comprehensive enough to expose and deal with the roots of urban decay. They engaged in “‘meetingitis”’ and were supporting strategies that resulted in “proj- ectitis,"” the outcome of which was a “laundry list’’ of traditional programs to be conducted by traditional agencies in the traditional manner under which slums emerged in the first place. By and large, peaple are once again being planned for. In Most situations the major plan- ning decisions are peing made by CDA staff and approved in a formalistic way by policy boards. 7. Residents were not getting enough informa- tion from CDAs to enable them to review CDA de- veloped plans or to initiate plans of their own as re- quired by HUD. At best, they were getting superficial information. copies of official HUD materials. we At worst, they were not even getting. 8. Most residents were unaware of their rights to be reimbursed for expenses incurred because of par- ticipation—babysitting, transportation costs, and so on. 9. The training of residents, which would en- able them to understand the labyrinth of the federal- state-city systems and networks of subsystems, was an item that most CDAs did not even consider. These findings led to a new public interpretation of HUD's approach to citizen participation. Though the requirements for the seventy-five ‘‘second-round” Model City grantees were not changed, HUD's twenty-seven page technical bulletin on citizen participation repeat- edly advocated that cities share power with residents. cies. It has a veto power in that no plans may be sub- mitted by the CDA to the city council until they have been reviewed, and any differences of opinion have been successfully negotiated with the AWC. Representatives oftheAWC (whichisafederationofneighborhood organizations grouped into sixteen neighborhood “*hubs’’) may attend all meetings of CDA task forces, planning committees, or subcommittees. Though the city council has final veto power over the plan (by federal law), the AWC believes it has a neighborhood constituency that is strong enough to negotiate any eleventh-hour objections the city council might raise when itconsiders such AWC proposed in- novations as an AWC Land Bank, an AWC Economic Development Corporation, and an experimental income maintenance program for 900 poor families. 7. DELEGATED POWER In most cases where power has come to be shared it| — between citizens and public officials can les taken by the citizens, not given by the city. There aIso result in citizens achieving dominant decision- is nothing new about that process. Since those who have making authority over a particular plan or program. power normally want to hang onto it, historically it has Model City policy'boards or CAA delegate agencies on s hadtobewrestedbythepowerlessratherthanproffered whichcitizenshaveaclearmajorityofseatsandgenuine by the powerful. specified powers are typical examples. At this level, the Such a working partnership was negotiated by the ladder has been scaled to the point where citizens hold residentsinthePhiladelphiamodelneighborhood.Like thesignificantcardstoassureaccountabilityofthepro- most applicants for a Model Cities grant, Philadelphia gram to them. To resolve differences, powerholders wrote its more than 400 page application and waved it need to start the bargaining process rather than respond at a hastily called meeting of community leaders. When those present were asked for an endorsement, they angrily protested the city’s failure to consult them on preparation of the extensive application. A community spokesman threatened to mobilize a neighborhood pro- Ohio; Minneapolis, Minnesota; St. Louis, Missouri; test against the application unless the city agreed to give Hartford and New Haven, Connecticut; and Oakland, the citizens a couple of weeks to review the application California. and recommend changes. The officials agreed. “In New Haven, residents of the Hill neighborhood At their next meeting, citizens handed the city ofi- have created a corporation that has been delegated the cials a substitute citizen participation section that power to prepare the entire Model Cities plan. The city, changed the groundrules from a weak citizens’ ad- which received a $117,000 planning grant from HUD, visory role to a strong shared power agreement. Phila- has subcontracted $110,000 of it to the neighborhood delphia’s application to HUD included the citizens’ corporation to hire its own planning staff and consul- substitutionwordforword.(Italsoincludedanew tants.TheHillNeighborhoodCorporationhaseleven citizen prepared introductory chapter that changed the representatives on the twenty-one-member CDA board city’s description of the model neighborhood from a which assures it a majority voice when its proposed plan paternalisticdescriptionofproblemstoarealisticanaly- isreviewedbytheCDA. sis of its strengths, weaknesses, and potentials.) Consequently, the proposed policy-making committee of the Philadelphia CDA was revamped to give five out obtained a subcontract from the CDA for more than .interesting coexistence model for hostile citizen groups of eleven seats to the residents’ organization, which is called the Area Wide Council (AWC). The AWC be resolved through negotiation. This isaparticularly $20,000 per month, which it used to maintain the neigh- borhood organization, to pay citizen leaders $7 per meeting for their planning services, and to pay the salaries of a staff of community organizers, planners, andothertechnicians.AWChasthepowertoinitiatecilshavefinalvetopowersevenwhencitizenshavethe plans of its own, to engage in joint planning with CDA majority of seats on the CDA Board. In Richmond, committees,andtoreviewplansinitiatedbycityagen- California,thecitycouncilagreedtoacitizens’counter- 222 AIP JOURNAL JULY 1969 to pressure from the other end. Such a dominant decision-making role has been at- tained by residents in a handful of Model Cities includ- ing Cambridge, Massachusetts; Dayton, and Columbus, Another model of delegated power is separate and parallel groups of citizens and powerholders, with pro- . vision for citizen veto if differences of opinion cannot _ ~ . ‘too embittered toward city hall—as a result of past “collaborative efforts’’—to engage in joint planning. Since al Model Cities programs require approval by the city council before HUD will fund them, city coun- ing influence over the outcome of the plan (as long as both parties find it useful to maintain the partnership). One community leader described it “like coming to city hall with hat on head instead of in hand.” In the Model Cities program only about fifteen of the so-called first generation of seventy-five cities have reached some significant degree of power-sharing with residents. In al but one of those cities, it was angry citizen demands, rather than city initiative, that led to the negotiated sharing of power.* The negotiations were triggered by citizens who had been enraged by previous forms of alleged participation. They were both angry and sophisticated enough to refuse to be “conned” again. They threatened to oppose the awarding of a planning grant to the city. They sent delegations to HUD in Washington. They used abrasive language. Negotiation took place under a cloud of suspicion and rancor. 8. CITIZEN CONTROL Demands for community controlled schools, black con- trol, and neighborhood control are on the increase. Though no one in the nation has absolute control, it is very important that the rhetoric not be confused with intent. People are simply demanding that degree of power (or control) which guarantees that participants or residents can govern a program or an institution, be in full charge of policy and managerial aspects, and be able to negotiate the conditions under which “outsiders” may change them. A neighborhood corporation with no intermediaries between it and the source of funds is the model most frequently advocated. A small number of such experi- mental corporations are already producing goods and/or social services. Several others are reportedly in the development stage, and new models for control will undoubtedly emerge as the have-nots continue to press for greater degrees of power over their lives. Though the bitter struggle for community control of the Ocean Hill-Brownsville schools in New York City has aroused great fears in the headline reading public, less publicized experiments are demonstrating that the have-nots can indeed improve their lot by handling the ARNSTEIN to develop a series of economic enterprises ranging from a novel combination shopping-center-public-housing project to a loan guarantee program for local building contractors. The membership and board of the non-. profit corporation is composed of leaders of major com- munity organizations in the black neighborhood. 2. Approximately $1 million ($595,751 for the second year) was awarded to the Southwest Alabama FarmersCooperativeAssociation(SWAFCA) inSelma, Alabama, for a ten-county marketing cooperative for food and livestock. Despite local attempts to intimidate the coop (which included the use of force to stop trucks on the way to market), first year membership grew to 1,150 farmers who earned $52,000 on the sale of their new crops. The elected coop board is composed of two poor black farmers from each of the ten economi- cally depressed counties. 3. Approximately $600,000 supplemental grant) was granted to the Albina Cor- poration and the Albina Investment Trust to create a black-operated, black-owned manufacturing concern us- ing inexperienced management and unskilled minority group personnel from the Albina district. The profit- making wool and metal fabrication plant will be owned by its employees through a deferred compensation trust plan. 4. Approximately $800,000 ($400,000 for the second year) was awarded to the Harlem Common- wealth Council to demonstrate that a community-based ($300,000 in a veto, but the details of that agreement are ambiguous and have not been tested. Various delegated power arrangements are also emerging in the Community Action Program as a result of demands from the neighborhoods and OEO’s most recent instruction guidelines which urged CAAs “to exceed (the) basic requirements” for resident participa- tion.4 In some cities, CAAs have issued subcontracts to resident dominated groups to plan and/or operate one or more decentralized neighborhood program components like a multipurpose service center or a Headstart pro- gram. These contracts usually include an agreed upon line-by-line budget and program specifications. They also usually in¢lude a specific statement of the significant powers that have been, delegated, for example: policy- making; hiring and firing; issuing subcontracts for building, buying, or leasing. (Some of the subcontracts are so broad that they verge on models for citizen control.) development corporation can catalyze and implement an . economic development program with broad community support and participation. After only eighteen months of program development and negotiation, the council will soon launch several large-scale ventures including operation of two supermarkets, an auto service and repair center (with built-in manpower training pro- gtam), a finance company for families earning less than $4,000 per year, and a data processing company. The al black Harlem-based board is already managing a metal castings foundry. Though several citizen groups (and their mayors ) use the rhetoric of citizen control, no Model City can meet the criteria of citizen control since final approval power and accountability rest with the city council. Daniel P. Moynihan argues that city councils are representative of the community, but Adam Walinsky illustrates the nonrepresentativeness of this kind of representation: 15 other federal agencies. Examples include: 1. A $1.8 million grant was awarded to the Hough Area Development Corporation in Cleveland to plan economic development programs in the ghetto and program. Some are even demonstrating that they can do al this with just one arm because they are forced to use their other one to deal with a continuing barrage of local opposition triggered by the announcement that a federal grant has been .given to a community group or an all black group. 1 Who . . . exercises “control” through the repre- sentative process? In the Bedford-Stuyvesant ghetto of New York there are 450,000 people—as many as in the entire city of Cincinnati, more than in Most of these experimental programs have been capi- talized with research and demonstration funds from the Office of Economic Opportunity in cooperation with theentirestateofVermont. Yettheareahasonly one high school, and 80 per cent of its teen-agers are dropouts; the infant mortality rate is twice the national average; there are over 8000 buildings abandoned by evesyone but the rats, yet the arca received not one dollag pf urban renewal funds entire job of planning, policy-making, and managing a 223 NOTES 1 The literature on poverty and discrimination and their effects on people is extensive. As an introduction, the following will be 224 AIP JOURNAL JULY 1969 during the entire first 15 years of that program’s operation; the unemployment rate is known only to God. Clearly, Bedford-Stuyvesant has some special needs; yet it has always been lost in the midst of the city’s eight million. In fact, it took a lawsuit to win for this vast area, in the year 1968, its first Congressman. In what sense can the repre- sentative system be said to have “spoken for” this community, during the long years of neglect and decay? Walinsky’s point on Bedford-Stuyvesant has general Yale University Press, 1968). applicability to the ghettos from coast to coast. It is therefore likely that in those ghettos where residents have achieved a significant degree of power in the Model Cities planning process, the first-year action plans will call for the creation of some new community institutions entirely governed by residents with a speci- fied sum of money contracted to them. If the ground- rules for these programs are clear and if citizens under- 2 The poster is one of about 350 produced in May or June 1968 at Atélier Populaire, a graphics center launched by students from the Sorbonne’s Ecole des Beaux Art and Ecole des Arts Decoratifs. stand that achieving a genuine place in the pluralistic the American Institute of Planners, XXXIV, No. 5 (September scene subjects them to its legitimate forms of give-and- 1968), 290-1. 5U.S., Department of Housing and Urban Development, take, then these kinds of programs might begin to Workable Program for Community Improvement, Answers on Citt- demonstrate how to counteract the various corrosive political and socioeconomic forces that plague the poor. Community Action Agencies,” CAP Grant 9499. In cities likely to become predominantly black 7Robert Coles, ‘Social Struggle and Weariness,” Psychiatry, X XVII (November 1964), 305-15. I am also indebted to Daniel strident M. Fox of Harvard University for some of his general insights into citizens’groupslikeAWCofPhiladelphiawilleven-therapybeingusedasadiversionfromgenuinecitizenparticipation. through population growth, it is unlikely that tually demand legal power for neighborhood 8See, Gordon Fellman, “Neighborhood Protest of an Urban self- Highway,” Journal of the American Institute of Planners, XXXV, government. Their grand design is more likely to call No. 2 (March 1969), 118-22. for a black city ‘hall, achieved by the elective process. 9 James V. Cunningham, “Resident Participation, Unpublished Report prepared for the Ford Foundation, August 1967, p. 54. In cities destined to foreseeable future, it is quite likely that counterpart CDA.11U.S., Department of Housing and Urban Development, tain demands for resource with residents and anticipated the need for a period in which a allocation weighted in favor representative citizens group could be engaged, and the ambiguities remain predominantly white for the 10 Interview with Maxine Kurtz, Technical Director, Denver groups to AWC will press for separatist forms of “Citizen Participation in Model Cities,” Technical Assistance Bulle- neighborhood government that can create and control tin, No. 3 (December 1968). decentralized public services such as police protection, 12 Organization for Social and Technical Innovation, Six-Month Progress Report to Office of Economic Opportunity, Region 1, education systems, and health facilities. Much may February 1, 1969, pp. 27, 28, and 35. depend on the willingness of city governments to enter- 13 In Cambridge, Massachusetts, city hall offered to share power of the poor, reversing gross imbalances of the past. of authority, structure, and process would be resolved. At the re- quest of the mayor, HUD allowed the city to spend several months community control are; of Model Cities planning funds for community organization activi- it supports separatism; it creates balkanization of public ties. During these months, staff from the city manager's office also Among the arguments.against helped the residents draft a city ordinance that created a CDA com- it enables posed of sixteen elected residents and eight appointed public and minority group “hustlers” to be just as opportunistic private agency representatives. This resident-dominated body has services; it is more costly and less efficient; and disdainful of the have-nots as their the power to hire and fire CDA staff, approve al plans, review all white prede- model city budgets and contracts, set policy, and so forth. The cessors; it is incompatible with merit systems and pro- ordinance, which was unanimously passed by the city council also fessionalism; and ironically enough, itcan turn includes a requirement that all Model City plans must be approved out to be by a majority of residents in the neighborhood through a refer- a new Mickey Mouse game for the have-nots by allow- endum. Final approval power rests with the city council by federal ing them to gain control but not allowing them sufh- statute. . 14U.S., Office of Economic Opportunity, OEO Instruction, cient dollar resources to succeed.*® These arguments are Participation of the Poor in the Planning, Conduct and Evaluation not to be taken lightly. But neither can we take lightly of Community Action Programs (Washington, D.C.: December 1, the arguments of embittered advocates 1968), pp. 1-2. of community 15 Adam Walinsky, “Review of Maximum Feasible Misunder- control—that every other means of trying to end their standing” by Daniel P. Moynihan, New York Times Book Review, victimization has failed! February 2, 1969. helpful: B. H. Bagdikian, Iv the Midst of Plenty: The Poor in’ America’ (New York: Beacon, 1964); Paul Jacobs, “The Brutalizing of America,” Dissent, XT (Autumn 196-1), p. 423-8; Stokely Carmichael and Charles V. Hamilton, Black Power: The Politics of Liberation in America (New York: Random House, 1967); Eldridge Cleaver, Soul on Ice (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1968); L. J. Duhl, The Urban Condition; People and Policy in the Metropolis. (New York: Basic Books, 1963); William H. Grier and P. M. Cobbs, Black Rage (New York: Basic Books, 1968); Michael Harrington, The Other America: Poverty in the United States (New York: Macmillan, 1962); Peter Marris and Martin Rein, Dilemmas of Social Reform: Poverty and Community Action in the United States (New York: Atherton Press, 1967); Mollie Orshansky, “Who's Who Among the Poor: A Demographic View of Poverty,” Social Security Bulletin, XXVIL (July 1965), 3-32; and Richard T. Titmuss, Essays on the Welfare State (New Haven: 3 This typology is an outgrowth of a more crude typology I circulated in March 1967 in a HUD staff discussion paper titled “Rhetoric and Reality.” The earlier typology consisted of eight levels that were less discrete types and did not necessarily suggest a chronological progression: Inform, Consult, Joint Planning, Negotiate, Decide, Delegate, Advocate Planning, and Neighbor- hood Control. : 4For an article of some possible employment strategies, see, Edmund M. Burke, “Citizen Participation Strategies,” Journal of zen Participation, Program Guide 7, February, 1966, pp. 1 and 6. 6David Austin, “Study of Resident Participants in Twenty 16 For thoughtful academic analyses of some of the potentials and pitfalls of emerging neighborhood control models, see, Alan Altshuler, “The Demapd For Participation in Large American_ Cities,” An Unpublished Paper prepared for the Urban Institute, December 1968; and Hans .C, Spiegel and Stephen D. Mitten- | thal, “Neighborhood Pqwer apd Control, Implications for Urban Planning,” A Report pr¢pared fos the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Nayembey 1968. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Arnstein Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived John Allan Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1969 https://nam.maydayrooms.org/files/original/2c8cfbb0c600e6767dcc36055b34d98b.pdf a0bade4d0fcb0262028bbedfd3f4886d Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Public Design Group Description An account of the resource Argued that it was only through the public sector that the majority of people could have access to the land and resources needed for housing, education and other essential services. The task was therefore to reform the practice of architecture in local councils to provide an accessible and accountable design service. The Public Design Group proposed reforms to the practice of architecture in local councils to provide a design service accessible and accountable to local people and service users. The following 6 Interim Proposals were developed which were later initiated and implemented in Haringey Council 1979-1985 by NAM members. <ul><li style="font-weight:400;">Local area control over resources </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Design teams to be area based </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Area design teams to be multi-disciplinary </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Project architects to report directly to committee</li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Abolish posts between Team Leader and Chief Architect </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Joint working groups with Direct Labour Organisations</li> </ul> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Direct Labour History Subject The topic of the resource History of Direct Labour from first DLO in 1982 at LCC Description An account of the resource uur History ( Ie oieirms WA. ZeLw 4 The decinion to set up the first direct labour departments was made Ly the TCC in 1992. Behind the decision ley four important factors. First, in the early 1290s, labour organisation wes strong. Following the success of the 1889 dock strike, new unions were emerging to challenge the traditional craft unions and unskilled workers were organising thenselves alongside exilled workers. Both were fighting for better working conditions high during the depression years up to 1295 and the governnent’s attcnpte to mollify rising discontent in the form of publio relier works proved coatly, inefficient and beyond the scope of most lock] wuthorivier and ne real solution to unemploymeht. Thirdly, the tuilding industry wae in a state of chaos. During the corrupt years of the MPDW contractors were infamous for scamping work done, resulting in heavy maintenance costs, ani for forming rings to maintain the costs of contracta at an exorbitarily high level. Alongside the growth of cubcontracting which gccompeniea this, trade unions were opposing the imposition of vrdue hours and unfair veges by contractore. Tastly, there wac a repidly changing political position within the LCC, with the emergence of a latour group, which inciuded 2 John Burna (one of the leading figures in the dock strike) and Sidney Webb. This group saw municipal servicee as a direct encroachnent on canitelism. The fight for an extension of municipal services arose mainly out of an alliance between this group and those desiring to increace the efficiency of capitalioms The latter were called the Progressives. Bestest the enterprises of the Progressives, dependant on the provision of essential services in the capital, were hampered by the inefficiency and costiinessa of the work done ty contractors. Up till this time the main function of town councils war to hand out contracts : , Dic = through the Fair wages Movement. “econdly, unemployment was extremely t. and: collect the money necerssary for tiem. Even as late as 1890 dust collection wae done by contractors in the LCC area. The Progressives gained control of the LCC in 1889, defeating the Moderates who represented the interests of local contractors and private companies. One of their firet acts was to bring in a clause enforcing Trade union conditions and pay on all contracts given out by the council. Contractors by the LCC in setting up their Works department was followed by Battersea (1894) and West Ham (1896). An important point about these early direct labour departments is that their work was not confined to housing. Local authorities had only recently extended their sphere of responsibility to housing, following agitation from, for instance, the Workmen' s National Housing council, to remedy slum conditions. As well as undertaking the building of some of the first council estates built under the Housing of the Working Classes Act 1890 the LCC Works Department also obtained contracts (including the furniture contract) from the London Schools Board. Battersea even built a power station, The departments were equipped with a large number of workshops. battersea had, for instance, a wheelwrights shop, joinery works, baacksmiths shop, pjumbers, painters and decoratore shops. It also had advanced machinery, such as a morticing and horing machine." One of the early direct works departments even retaliated by putting in outrageous tonderse> It was against this background, and in order to destroy the monopolistic position of contractors that the growing demand for a Works Department was accepted in 1892, with the building of the York Rd. sewer. The lowest estimate received for this when put out for tender Kas £11,000. The Works department completed the work for £6,854. The lead given owned their own brickfielde; enother provided its own gas for the works.5 == : : ; The effect of the introduction of direct works was to act as xz a check on contractors, reducing their demands and raising the quality of work done — as well ae improving the conditions of building workers by setting a high standard which private builders were force ed to follow. Not till the 1900s, when the housetwilding boom had subsided and speculetive builders’ profits were low did contractors begin arguing that direct works was more contly. It is clear that the idea of cost efficiency was not a basis for setting up Direct Works. As Battersea's engineer and surveyor, Mr. Pilditch explained: "In dispensing with the contractor and undertaking the whole of our work direct, it has never been in contemplation by the Vestry to compete With the cutting contractor who competes at the lowest poss&ble, and often at a losing figure, and then tries by every schame possible to cut and shirk the specified work to avoid a loss as far as possible if unable to make a profite!© Mr. Williams of the FRIBA added to this: "The profit and loss fallacy is not indu&ged in at Battersea. I gathered that it was quite understood in Battersez that good material, good and expeditious worknanship and proper conditions of labour were the points to be aimed at, and whether the eventual cost came out above or below the estimate the community benefitted thereby in the end" These claims are supported in a survey of direct works in the LCC, Battersea and West Ham carried out by Bradford Trades Council in 1904, ! (to ascertain the feasibility of Direct Works for Bradford) which describes the quality of work and materials used as compared with private contractors work. 4- By 1907 a large mumber of authorities had followed the initiative teken by the LCC and set up their own direct works (see figure I). As local authorities began their own housebuilding programmes, often with the use of direct labour, eo their activities encroached more and more private into the/housetuilding sector. With the increasing sucese of direct labour, the contractors launched their firat full-scale campaign against direct xarkt works. Direct Works was ons of the main iseues of the 1907/8 local elections for the LCC, with the Moderates in the name of ‘Municipal Reform',claiming that it wes costly and took away local employment. They succeeded in gaining a majority in the LCC, and their first task was in 1908 to practically destroy the Yorks Department. The Progressives BDivans and J. Stanley Holmes in their election address for the 1910 election described the effect: "The ruthless destruction of this great cepartment and the discharge of over 3,000 men had resulted in London being placed in the hands of the big contractors. It is urged that the men formerly employed by the LCC are now working for contractorsbu,t since a considerable volume of work which was formerly executed by the Yorks Department (including the furnishing contract for all london sbhools) is now being done in the provinces, it is obvious that the cry of 'Jondon work for London men’ raised by the moderates is simply electionary cant. Further it Will be remembered that the Works Department was established in 1892, partly for the purpose of acting as a check on contractors and preventing the formation of ‘rings’. In view of this it 49/noteworthy point that since the abolition of the Works Department over 50 tenders have been withdrawn by contractors, showing that the old game is starting over again, ani we are going back to the corrupt cays of the EE." (Presumably the tenders were withdrawn 60 that they could by upped.) --} By 1912 moderate opinion on direct labour was being reflected in the official line taken by government. Purns had argued throughout the 1890s in the House of Commons for direct labour and against the use of contractors for government workers But in 1912 when Wedgewood Benn | was asked: Wat is policy about whether a perticular piece of work should be done by contract or by direct letour?¥, he replied: "The policy of the department is to have work executed subcontract, practically the only direct labour employed being in connection with the Lonizn Royal Parks end certain ancient monuments situated in remote places. The regular repair work in the various government wuildings is executed bub maintenance Contreotatting To sum up this first phase in the history of direed labour. Direct works departments before the first world war were established: 1) as # solution to unemployment and as an alternative to public relief ; works; 2) to ensure good working conditions and the maintenance of trade union retes. 3) to ensure a high standard, particularly in the growing area of public housing. 4) to destroy the monopolistic position of contractors and to act as a ) check on their tenders (if these were lower than direact labour estimetes, this implied low quality and scamped work or poor wages; if higher, this implied exorbitantly high profits for contractors). The work of the departments was wide-ranging, although housebuilding became increasingly important with the growing responisibilities of municipalities to provide housing. To undertake this extensive workshops were set up. ~b— Post First World “ar The acute housing shortage after World War I reféected the pre-war deficiency of housebilding carried forward as well as the suspeasion of building during the war. The Housing Town Planning Act of 1919 zttemped to eliminate this shortage by imposing a duty on local authorities for the first time to provide for the housing needs of the zorking class in their district. To back up this committment the government gave direct encouragement to local suthorities to employ 13w local authorities gave work to both direct labour and local gu$lds- The working conditions provided were aboue those in the private sector and, inspite of the guaranteed 44 hour week and payment for wet time, veges were often slightly above those in the locality. Girect labour orgenisations. A memoradum of August 1919 As a result of this encouragement, and of the success in the experimental shousing in first Newbury, and then Tivennoovun the munber of direct labour departments snowballed. By Noventer 1920 70 new direct works had been set ea Unlike the prevar pepartments these were concentrated on house-building. Although direct labour was A aetea by the building unions, the situation was confused by the short-lived and financially disastrous Guild movement which the NFBTO also gave backing to. Neny w6s Post First World “ar The acute housing shortage after World War I reftected the pre-war deficiency of housebilding carried forward as well as the suspeasion of building during the war. The Housing Town Planning Act of 1919 zttemped to eliminate this shortage by imposing a duty on local authorities for the first time to provide for the housing needs of the zorking class in their district. To back up this committment the government gave direct encouragement to local authorities to employ were often slightly above those in the locality. 13 Meny direct labour organisations. A memoradum of August 1919 As a result of this encouragement, and of the success in the experimental shousing in first Newbury, and then Tivernsota the munber of direct labour departments snowballed. By roTener 1920 70 new direct works had been set tee Unlike the prevar pepartments these were concentrated on house-building. Although direct labour was a eee by the building unions, the situation was confused by the short-lived and financially disastrous Guild movement which the NFSTO also geve backing to. local authorities gave work to both direct labour and local gu$lds. The working conditions provided were aboue those in the private sector and, inspite of the guaranteed 44 hour week and payment for wet time, veges Shortly thereafter, the private buildinr sector, paralysed by skilled labour shortages and vastly received separate authorisation for subsidy (Additional Powers) Act. In this sector, private faced relatively little competition from would not necessarily have caused alarm housebuilding DLOs. These new measures state intervention (as with hindsipht as setting precedents for they appe=r to have done). Instead they could be constructed rary antidotes to an emergency brought In the pre-Keynesian economic fear high levels of public exnanurnne Government. Public expenditure for howsine was extremely ched a very high level indeed. The an all-time high in April-May peak in housebuilding costs. The wholesale January 1919 as base pertlod = 100) rose to 129 in June 1920 September 1921 had fallen rapidly to burden on the state (and a corresponding builders) since two-thirds of ceived by April 1921 had been contracts signed before the onset timates, on the other hand, were final costs and so offered significant Of ae and jaaeine themfootnores In this context, DLOs received sipnificant support. The 1921 Report on the High inflated prices, throuch the Housing as providing necessary but tempo- about by the aftermath of wm climate there would be no reason as a permanent feature of short-lived but rea -— general price level had reached 1920, a few months earlier than price index (taking the but by 79. This created an enormous bonanza for many private the subsidised housing returns approved in lump sum (ie, fixed) re - of the slump. Direct labour es- adjusted to reflect prevailing economies (as the example indicates). if somewhat cautious Cost of Building Workine to Class Dwellings remarks that as an experiment upon.a limited scale with a direct incentive to economy to the local authorities Adopting it we are of the opinicn that it will tend rather to a reduction than to an increase in fencral prices. !4- Despite this favourable expectation the final recommendation only supported ene provision of houses by DL and it was in small numbers in the first instance, to he subsequently increased if and when their operations prove economical (and) local incentive to economy (should) be provided by the fixine of maximum prices which shall rank for financial assistance.15 A further recommendation in the same report makes it clear just how constrained this modest support mirht be in practice by advi- sing that ‘direct building by the government should be restricted tc a minimum! and viewed as an expedient only to be talen up in emergencies. By the time this report was published (Aueust 1921) the government had already acted as thourh the postwar emergency were over by drastically curtailing its subsidised housine progfraine«. One necessary effect of this was to restrict opportunities Fore Din those which had been set up = which had undertaken a frreater pro- portion of the new housebuilding than in any earlier period. Of 160.000 houses in signed and approved contracts up to April 1924, 8,840 (5.5%) had been built by direct labour.” Addine those houses built by the Guilds and by the Office of Works brings the combined share to almost 10% of all houses. Commenting on this performance, two members of the 1921 Report Committee presenting the minority position commend DL for their good craftsmanship, for the economies they have achieved in their own estates as well as for those thev have imposed on private contracts by inhibiting throurh competi —- tion, otherwise excessive tender prices. The minority statement concludes that in our judgement, it would be in the best interest of economy that advantage should be taken to promote direct employment on housing schemes where ever possible. an The interwar period witnessed the continuinr decline in rovernment subsidies culminating in thé termination of subsidy to either sector for housing built to satisfy general needs (Housing Act 1933). But set against this decline was the remarkable increase in the output of local authority houses which peaked in 1928 with the production of 104.100 council houses with an additional contribu - Wy local authorities.T’he combined record total of 178,700 subsidised dwellings compared with only 60.300 unsubsidised dvellings - the lowest for any interwar year between 1924 and 1939. The implica - tions of this performance may well have sounded the alarm to the private construction industry concerned with its future prospects. By 1927 the NFBTE had launched an explicit attack on DLO& as the building arm of local government. al cannot be measured at the time the scheme is completed. tion of 74.600 houses built by private e'terprise but subsidised by cS Unlike the pre-war period, both the attacks and defence of Di0s at this time centred on arguments over cost. As the dramatic slump in the housebuilding industry set in after 1928 and builders were prepared to put in low tenders to obtain the work, cost savings could not gaways be shown. Wranglings over the relative cost msrits of direct labour and private work was in any case meaningless since they excluded qualitative assessment, the degree of maintenance required, certain management costs included in DL estimates and not in private tenders, The 1929 Labour research ae ieee in reply to the attack by contractors does point out that: "Were the financial success of direct labour tess striking, it would still be justified because it ensures building of high quality. And it must be borne in mxx mind that the high quality of the houces build by direct labour results in substantial economies in upkeep, which etc. {© Cose — In the recovery period after the second World War, both the Index of Wholesale Prices and the General Wage Index rose rapidly as it had after the “orld war 1, generating instability and uncertainty in the construction industry. ihese res'enses however took lonrer to reach their peak after world nar it than after norld war 4 and never returned to their prewar Icvels as they did after the earlier wal. ihis change is at least partly explained by the aco:-tion os the new Keynesian policies used explicitly to prevent a deflation of the sort thal occurred im late 1920, she acceptance of the demand managenernt role of the state was consistent with the renewed conimiit- tment to an extended postwar public housing prorranme. thourh one might have expected a pooteeh oe un encouragement of DLOs. But instead, there was much more consistent support for the dominant role to be played by private enterprise in the reconstruction of Great Britain, Contemrorary documents (first under the pre-1945 Coalition Government but continuing under Labour) make this quite expuaiciaus "Given favourable conditions, the housine needs of a large section of the people of this country can be met without Ri assistance from public funds.'” It is therefore not surprising to find this championing of competition and the private corporation reflected in the postwar directives concerning direct labour. These appear in a Ministry of Health memorandum circulated in 1946 Much of its substance however, appears in an earlier Ministry of 2 works Keport which itself parrots an even earlier report published Qt in 1939. this suggests the persistence of an older and possibly now atrophicd attitude towards DL which remained invulnerable to new economic policies emerging around it. Both these earlier reports however do offer positive evidence on behalf of 10s which tN does not survive into the 1946 memorandum; while there was little or no difference in cost between the direct labour estimate and the contractor's tender it was claimed that the cost of maintenance sub-—- sequent to completion was less on those houses which were carried out by DILO...We are satisfied that the best VL departments have built considerable numbers of food; houses at prices comparable with those of contractors. a) Yhe majority of those who had experience of PL in connection with individual trades were agreed that this method involved preater cost but renerally achieved a better standard of constructicn.= jhe recommendations in the 196 memorandum form a kind of contain-—- ment policy for DLOs: The director of the organisation must be as free as a private builder to select the staff . .. engage and discharge labour solely on frounds of efficiency ... otherwise there is a danrer that influences may creep in which may prejudice the whole nature of the organisation. A DL department must tender in corpetition with contractors, wt the sane tirie and under identical conditions and only obtain the contract if the tender is as low as that of any food contractor. Work should be confined to repetition jobs ... (which) means that the organisation need not become too complex. Housing is perhaps the most suitable job for a wLO for this reason. this seeminjs;ly contradictory position under a labour administration can perhaps be partly explained by looking at the chanre in the role of the State in its planning function. The war had served as &@ ca- talyst for a comprehensive and planned approach to post-war re- construction. both the sarlow report in 1946 and the uthwatt Committee set up in 1941 argued for direct state planninr inter- vention. in the latter case this was specifically to curtail spe- culative activity in land, to:restore to the community increases h land values which the community had frenerated but which lay in the hands of private landownerssdevelopers. ‘the war had proved te success of centralised control] of Key industries. thus could have formed the bases for permanent natienalisation or beran to alarm private wartime apparatus. 2a Inspite of this half-hearted support for direct labour, many new departments were set up, largely because of the increasing number of laboyr ctrongholds. Strong arguments for direct labour contimed RNrouRheut the late 1940s and major surveys of direct labour departments were 2lso carried out by the Labour Research Department and the ausTie A campaign for direct labour was even launched by the NFZTO and the London Trades Council, specifically as an alternative to private constructicn: "Private gunxsk enterprise cannot build houses to let becuuse they do not make money that way. Private enterpise makes profit out of houses only when it builds to sell. The only instrument eble to build houses to 25> St Pancras Trades Council, for instance, campaigned successfully for a directk labour department and exposed the ectivities of private : 2o G contractors in the area to a government inquiry. With the building cuts of 1947, delays were placed on théar first projects and only after apecial dispensation following a deputation to the House of Commons was let in great numbers was the local authority." the project allowed to proceed. ve industry, - which was therefore earer to dismantie the To many in the construction industry, direct instrument of minicipalisation wyhich wass itself a necessary corollary to nationalisation. It was one thing to accomodate local authorities as clients which ring alonpside vlLOs, for the Local authorities own contracts. labour organisations emerged as an the private building sector had always been more than willinre to i anothe?r to accep2t ththem as competitors by tende- do; it was quite the publication of the Girdwood reports on the cost of house - building in 1948, 1950 and 1951 carried forward the stand arainst the further encroachment of public enterprise. Like the 1921 hirh cost of housing report, they are basically harbingers of planned reductions in standards and output of foverrment housine. Asso- ciated with this of ccurse is a withdrawal of overt support for direct labour. there has been little diference between the general levels of estimated prices for DL schemes and tender prices for schemes undertaken for local authorities by contractors. On average up to 21st Necemhber 19h7, the former showed a slight saving but in the absence of further data about final costs we have not heen able to draw any gencral conclusions... we have found no reason to believe that house-buildine by DL is more economical than building under contract.2v By 1952 so strong is the committment to market forces that the 2nd Girdwood keport can contemplate the sacrifice of housing to the demands of competition. when inviting tenders in an area in which competiton is known to be poor, it may be possible to arranre contracts of such a size as to attract not only local contractors but also contractors from outside the area: in some cases a Greater readiness to rejcct tenders even at ibe risk of a temporary cessaticen of housebuildine in the area mirht be desirable. Ne -14- Conclusions From this brief account severdl general conclusions concerning the history of direct labour can be made. Firstly, the impetus to set up direct labour departments has arisen in periods of crisis for the building industry and for the provision of housing: the 1890s, dhe early 1920s and the immediate post second world war period. In these three periods labour organisation was strong and the issue of direct labour a very political one. It is clear that it successfully served as smme kind of check on the industry and has thus been a target of attack by cnntractors at times when the industry itself is threatened by a slump (for instance, the 1900s, the late 1920s and the present day) and seeking public sector work. At times when there have been booms in the private house-building industry it has not been a major issue (eg the 1930s and 1950s). Direct labour departments now are less wide ranging in their : activities than the early depaztments, partly because they have not in most cases been able to build up the large plant and equipment now necessary to employ industrialised techniques. In many ways they have been increasingly restricted ink their activities by * legislation and accounting procedures. * In 1958 defenders of the private construction industry did receive a minor legal setback. In Rands v. Oldroyd the High Court ruled that a local contractor/councillor had violated s.76 of Local Government Act 1933 by voting on a council issue concerning DL. The court deemed this a clear oonflict of interests. The industry found the decision quite disturbing. 1935— Neaue 128,160,000... 3,198,000 . 24 39,887,000... 5,259,000 <. 13 — Total .... 578,224,000 . 39,471,000... 6} Reka *Aftcr 1948 the information contained in the Census of Production is too aboreviated to permit extraction of Operations confined solely to building. The industry’s oulput is fegregated for “ Building and Civil Engineering.” Ratt: Repairs aud Maint eMcuce Work NB: NewBuildingVornls5 Direct Labour PRIVATE BUILDING AS AGAINST DIRECT LABOUR WORK, PERIOD 1907-1948 (Figures taken from Census of Production Reports) NeB.... 115,819,000... 3,474,000 . 3 Ram. 45,038,000... 3,641,000 . 73 Total .... 160,857,000... 7,115,000... 4} Total . 168,047,000... 8,457,000 . 43 Private Builders Direct Per Cent. of Labour = Totulto Nearest £ NB... 39,378,000 . 424.000 tPer Cent. 1907— as Rett... 34,070,000 . 862000 1” 2} Total . 73,448,000... 1,286,000... 1} CeO: 94,2,0. 2,253,000 2} Wiseinales)0)aieceee Total . 135,871,000 . 3,909,000 . 25 1930 1946— Ne@..... 185,962,000 UPON) mx, C1 Rew... 181,562,000 .181976000 3 gy ‘Totals: 367,524,000 . 26,899,000 . 6} 1948 (*) ga ie NeB.... 361,650,000 .14,386.000 3 Rati... 216,574,000 .25,085,000 |) 104 1 Most of the cost figures available for direct labour schemes in the interwar period are not directly comparable with corresponding figures for schemes built by prive con- trect. The most common form of comparison in Hansard sets approved tenders not against final costs but against estimated costs of direct labour schemes not yet completed (or occasionally not even becun). Every reading of offic ficues is attended by queries concerning the method of accounting; whether overheads/arcnitects/Q.S. fees ar included; whether the comparison relates to the same type of house built in the same region at the same time. fhe following table, therefore, lists only those ficues which attach to kkE completed schemes. Birmingham Dist. a 150° 168 210 35 39 (Ow) Durham Dist. (OW) 734 Hull Dist. (Ow)! 643 Kent Dist. (Oi!) 669)! Londen CO; 1) | 877 Wales (OW) 690 |Jarrow (DL) Bentley (DL) Derby (DL) Irilam Sf Manches Pontypri eal Sabena | Southga Swansea ) fonbridcse (DL) | fynemouth (DL) We Hartlepool (DL) | 1} ) | 926 | OOS 926 | ‘100% 1010 866 |~_ > }Direct Office of Works (CW)! Private jbuild'g.iwrkers Gld | Contract Final st C Final Cost,for Savincs | per louse (Private minus House of Pyve House of ‘ype [PAS Semen De Soimelcsie |77%. LOTo IMoa6 Boo 795°|&76) | WaSo ie | | 154 &3S Edmonton (DL) me Comvarative Final Costs for the Interwear Feriod 200 1100 ; 220-796 81 . | | | er 562 (on power station) 260 50 THansard, (175) cols.627-8 and €179) col.921. Office of Works figures exclude cost of land, roads and sewers and head— quarters charge of 2.75% to cover OW exuenditure, architects' and @.S. fees and other services. Figures for privat contract exclude cost of land, roads and sewers, arciitects' and @.S.' fees and salaries of Clerks of Works. All this information given in Report submitted to Newcastle City Council in 1923 by Sown Clerks of the towns involved. 2Hansard,(166) col. 619 Ftpid., and Hansard (175) col.426 +t Houses by Direoct eee Councillor Cyril Lacey in Labour Resear June 1946 |_376 . 35 57 OFLU fend Public) Own “J WaI0LO - © “3 0) NMOWWwoo OOOO NAH WONMWr Or Edmonton (DL) | 32 eueae e295, 56 DL Lowest Private Autho- iepe22endserageANGye 1892 rork koad Seser £7,000 tender £ 11,000 ce £ 1920 350 N.S. houses £ 192U 100 houses 854 final cost/use 929 final cost 7 Omeee enn 875 cost (orkers 1920 300 houses 1921 24 houses 192) 2U houses 1923 150 houses 1923 150 houses £2 £ O50) final 916 cost ruaranteed a 'th-hr week) W. Hartlepool Kangor Newmarket ments of which 57 concentrated all using authorities in North less that 10% of £ 959 eel OOH Bradford (average for 106 houses) 1,296 Cudworth &00 Se OOlO os (875 estimated) £ 76uU Seles HO Nov. 1949 (LRD Vol.x No. 23) Of 1lul wvL dep'ts responding to questicnnaire, only "4 carrie out new ho using cnstruction 878 per house if cost of lind, solicitors and arch itects' fees included costs BIWSe & 1,026 hull Newbury By 29 January 1947 , 124 Local Authorities using vL Depart REFERENCES 1. cf. G. Dew, Government and Municipal Contracts Fair Wages Movement: A brie= =istsor:, 1896. 2. For details of Burn's political activities and fight against contractors, see Kenneth D. Brown, Join Burns, Royal Historical Society, 1977. 3. Direct labour, published by Labour Research Department, 1929, p. 16. 4, Official Trade Unionist Report, London, Battersea and West Ham Mun Departments, presented by Bradford Trades and Labour Council to Bz History Library, 1904, p. 2. Labour Research Monthly Circular, Local Government Notes, June 1920. S.W. Star, June 27th 1898, Mr John Burns and Mr. William Davi Essentials of a Works Department - Views of an Architect and ibid. Bradford Trades Council report. Society, collection of LCC pamphlets and leaflets. 9. see Hansard 4th series XIV 81, 26 June 1893, and Hansard XXVII 1572-9, 18 Aug. 1€94. 10. Hansard (40) 476,.27 June 1912. ll. see R. Hayward, An Experiment in Direct Labour House-building: Liverpool 1920-2 discussion paper, Liverpool Univ. Nov. 1977. 12. Labour Research Monthly Circular, Local Government Notes, Nov. 1920 13. ibid. for June 1920. See Aso Matthews, The Building Guilds, in Essays in Labour History, ed. Briggs and Saville, London 1971. 14. Revort of the Departmental Committee on the High Cost of Working Class Dwellincs, LOPS ps5: 15. ibid,:p. 59. 16. ibid, p. 45. 17. ibid. p. 68. 18. {arian Bowley, Housing and the State, 1944, p. 271. 19. ibid. Labour Research Department, p. 27; for the attacks see, for instance, The Menace of Direct Labour, National Builder, Dec. 1927. Private Enterprise Housing, HMSO 1984, p. 37. The Placing and Management of Building Contracts (Simon Committee), 1944, Ministry of Works. The Barr Committee on Scottish Building Costs, Cmnd 5977, 1939. Memorandum on Direct labour issued Nov. 1946. Ministry of Health. This survey was later published as Building by Direct Labour, W.S. Hilton, London 1954. Oo mw Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Not known Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived John Murray Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 28.01.78 https://nam.maydayrooms.org/files/original/76997b47427b3bc8ea5d256e26868a87.pdf b301ff299afa1d8d72252f428d65f5c9 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Public Design Group Description An account of the resource Argued that it was only through the public sector that the majority of people could have access to the land and resources needed for housing, education and other essential services. The task was therefore to reform the practice of architecture in local councils to provide an accessible and accountable design service. The Public Design Group proposed reforms to the practice of architecture in local councils to provide a design service accessible and accountable to local people and service users. The following 6 Interim Proposals were developed which were later initiated and implemented in Haringey Council 1979-1985 by NAM members. <ul><li style="font-weight:400;">Local area control over resources </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Design teams to be area based </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Area design teams to be multi-disciplinary </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Project architects to report directly to committee</li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Abolish posts between Team Leader and Chief Architect </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Joint working groups with Direct Labour Organisations</li> </ul> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource BUILDING WITH DIRECT Labour Subject The topic of the resource Poster promoting Direct Labour. Back page has articles about the contracting system and the benefits of Direct Labour Description An account of the resource DIRECT LABOUR CAR PROVIDE © Permanent Employment, lower Building .a >|GoodWorkingConditions; _ Casts ie nd’ Responsive OL esas SService for a «aa ii. GA ihe ae The pamphlet, fully illustr ated, exam the proble of the constructi industry order, “tw / Seea DIRECT DIRECT LABOUR COLLECTIVE, HOUSING WORKSHOP, C.S. E 5,Mount Pleasant, Londonwetxoae. Price£1:50;25ppandp. Special Rate for TU branches, Tenants Associations, Trades Councils 65p;25ppandp. ***** **.** **** CRISIS The construction industry is in a mess. Almost a quarter of a million output has slumped; building costs have rocketed; millions building workers are unemployed; and roads that are only a few years old; and yet contractors’of pounds need to be spent shoring upbuildings Building firms contract for every job they profits have reached record levels. Why is this? undertake, and want to make as much profit as possible. of the industry (and there are many) stem All the operates to the advantage of building firms, but everyone else from this basic fact. The contracting system worst characteristics has to pay the cost. The contracting system THE BUILDING PRODUCT AND ITS COST * The Greatest Profit: is made by cutting corners and generally scamping on work. More often than not the detri 1 effects of employment ona casual basis. Furthermore, employment is no longer subjected to the cycle of Stability of Employ {Di lisati Permanent employ ina DLO booms and slumps and the effects that are generated by the contracting system. Unionisation: Permanent employment has led to high levels of unionisation — an important reason for the good working conditions in DLOs. Good Working Conditions, including Health and Safety: Because the all-embracing need for profit is removed, DLOs conform to health and safety regulations. Accident rates in Manchester DLO are under half those in the private sector and in Sandwell DLO there has never been a fatal or serious accident. Good working conditions also result, since there is no motive to scamp on work or facilities. Training: DLOs offer vastly superior training facilities. They employ over 10,000 apprentices and the larger ones operate extensive training programmes. Manchester employs more that all the contractors in the area put together. This isdespite the fact that DLOs are not eligible for the state grants given to contractors. Lump labour. of the Lump: Under the Lump work is subcontracted on a labour-only basis and the worker is self-employed. Permanent employment in DLOs is an effective guarantee against the use of * A Transformed Production Process: With a considerable expansion of DLOs, planned building prog- rammes would be possible, and design and building could be integrated. Both would result in a vastly superior building product, which was more responsive to the needs of the final user. The larger DLOs have demonstrated the advantages of large-scale workshops and the planned introduction of modem machinery, * Lower Rents: The lower building costs resulting from non-contracting mean, firstly, lower rents. In addition, the expansion of direct labour leads to the real possibility of lowering the enormous burden of interest charges imposed upon council housing. Once this is achieved, rents would fall dramatically. Responsive Building Service: DLOs have no incentive to scamp work or cause immense disruption to tenants. Where they were called in to do repair work, DLOs are quicker and more reliable. Accountability: DLOs are accountable and answerable to tenant complaints. Tenants, therefore, can have a greater say in work undertaken by DLOs for, as a service, their operations are public information. Direct labour DIRECT LABOUR AS A SERVICE SLUMP IN OUTPUT Workloads have fallen dramatically over the past four years. Output has dropped by almost a third. BUT CONTRACTORS DON’T LOSE * Record Profits: Many contractors have increased their profits in every year of the slump. In 1977, Newarthill’s (McAJpines) rose by 127% to £11'4 million, Marchweil by 25% to £13 million, and Wimpey’s made over £50 million and avoided paying tax on it. Large Cash Holdings: In addition, contractors have amassed vast fortunes in cash with which to playthe money market and stock exchange. Dividends and share prices have boomed. In 1973 Costain’s held £5.7 million in cash, and Taylor Woodrow nearly £9 million; by 1976 their holdings had grown to £36.7 million and £38.7 million respectively. Few Bankruptcies: The contractors are always claiming that the industry is highly competitive and that inefficient producers go to the wall. But relatively few contractors have gone bankrupt; and the crisis has demonstrated that there is no relationship between efficiency and profitability under the contracting system. Contractors Survive Slumps: Because they can lay off workers in their thousands, and have low over- heads and fixed capital. They can bide their time, taking only the more profitable work, waiting for the next boom to come along. In this way, profitability is assured but so is a building industry with appalling characteristics. ee ee 0 Tn nn aa aao Direct labour is the workforce employed by local authorities for construction work. Most local authorities have a direct labour organisation (DLO) of some sort, undertaking the building and repair of houses, schools, roads, etc. DLOs employ over 200,000 workers. ADVANTAGES TO TENANTS From their beginnings in the 1890s DLOs were intended asa service; set up as a response to the failures of the contracting em to provide a good quality product, at reasonable cost, with good working conditions and trade union rights. THE POLITICAL STRUGGLE FOR DIRECT LABOUR * The Contractors’ Attack: Aided by their Tory allies, the contractors have mounted a massive campaign against DLOs, using all the lies and distortions they can muster. Well over a million pounds have been used to finance it. Their sole concern is to preserve profit levels. They want to take lucrative work away from DLOs, and defend their tarnished image by attacking the genuine alternative to the con- tracting system that DLOs represent. Their hysteria has reached ne v heights as a result of the proposal- by the Labour Party to nationalise one or two of the largest contractors. As DLOs are publicly owned, the have ised the link b the exp of direct labour and nationalisation. So direct labour has become a test case for contractors in the defence of their interests. The Tory Attack: Where Tories have gained control of local councils, they have proceeded in a ruthless manner to destroy the DLO and sack workers. This has occured in both Birmingham and the GLC, inspite of the savings shown by the departments. Playing with Demand: The solution to the ils of the building industry is seen by both the contractors and the government to be the stabilisation of the flow of orders. But this will not work, for it will give contractors even greater monopoly power and change none of the fundamental characteristics of the industry. What is required instead is the abolition of the contracting system, and a change in the way in which building work is organised and produced. Only direct labour offers this as a practical possibility today. The Threat to Direct Labour as a Service: Strong moves are being made by Government and the con- tractors to undermine direct labour asa service by insisting that DLOs act like contractors. They want them to tender for work, with the overriding objective of making as much profit as possible. This would hard won imp: in working diti and destroy all the principles on which direct labour is based. The main losers would be workers and tenants. This is in addition to a general policy of running down council housing which also means worse housing conditions and rents for tenants, and jeopardises jobs in DLOs. * The Fight to Defend and Expand Direct Labour: Campaigns to counteract the contractors’ pernicious attacks are underway. The Confederation of Local Authorities Stewards (CLAWS) now helps to set up ‘and coordinate action committees throughout the country. These are working towards greater unity between all sections of the Labour Movement — trade unions and residents — over the issue of direct labour. In Sandwell, W. Midlands, the Tenants’ Liason Committee meets regularly with DLO shop stewards to sort out problems over repairs and to increase the role of direct labour.Elsewhere, other council workers are also joining in campaigns: for example, in Wandsworth and Hackney in London. SSEE SS EE) ADVANTAGES TO WORKERS THE BUILDING PRODUCT — LOWER COSTS Removal of Profit: Private contractors build in order to make profits. With direct labour as a service charging at cost, this profit element is removed. For this reason alone costs will fall. Removal of Contractors’ Waste: The contracting system costs local authorities a fortune — in the costs of failed tender bids (which they end up paying through higher prices), and the whole administrative apparatus required to run the tendering system. Even more costs are involved in contractors’ time and cost overruns, site walkouts, shoddy work and bankruptcies. With work by direct labour these costs do not arise. Nor do the substantial health and social costs of casual employment. A Better Product: DLOs build higher quality, lower cost buildings than do contractors. Between 1961 and 1976 Manchester DLO saved £1.5 million against the architect’s valuation plus £2.3 million against the next lowest tender. In one year, between 1975-6, Lambeth saved £1.3 million against the next lowest tender, and between 1971 and 1977 Colchester DLO (which is now being run-down) saved £1 million. Initial high quality means reduced maintenance costs. DLOs, anyhow, provide a much better repair and maintenance service. It is far more responsive and flexible, and it is much cheaper. The GLC has estimated that it would cost at least £8 million per year more to use contractors rather than the DLO. contract terms are broken in order to increase profits. Outrageous claims for additional costs are made, and completion dates delayed. Clients, including local authorities, have little control over either the quality or the cost of the work done. Monopoly: To keep profits high, contractors fix prices through monopolies and ringing. Some individual contractors have acquired a virtual monopoly over specific types of work. Corruption is rife. The name of Bryants is now famous as a result of their bribing Birmingham’s chief architect to obtain contracts. * Design Faults: Under the contracting system, design and building are separate. Untried designs are I hed by either archi or Frantic pts to make a quick profit mean that scant regard is paia to long-term reliability and maintenance costs. Failures such as Ronan Point and high alumina cement are an inevitable and costly result. Ironically, contractors are now making money out of remedying these faults. Poor Quality, Expensive Buildings: All these features lead to an enormous catalogue of inadequate and costly buildings. £100 million needs to be spend remedying faults in motorways in the Midlands; schools have collapsed; many new council houses are chronically damp because of leaky roofs or condensation; and new hospitals in Glasgow, Liverpool and London cannot be fully utilised for years. In Camden on just one site, Alexandra Road, Laings final price is £13-15 million more than the original tender of £5 million. WORKERS Casual Employment: Most workers are only hired on a temporary basis to work on one contract. When their task is finished they are laid off. At least a third of the workforce is out of work for a part of the year. This casual employment is endemic to the contacting system. Under it the lump flourishes. Unemployment: Casual jobs mean high levels of unemployment even during booms. The present slump has led to almost 400,000 construction-related jobs disappearing. Many workers have left the industry altogether; hundreds of thousands are on the dole — 221,817 were registered unemployed in February 1978. Wages: Construction workers do not get a decent basic wage, often bonuses make up over half their pay. During slumps, bonuses are cut, so earnings fall. Limited Training: At best, contractors provide minimal training facilities. Most training is now run and paid for by the state. In spite of the chronic shortage of skilled workers, the number of apprentices em- ployed by contractors dropped by over a half between 1964 and 1973. It is even lower now, with many apprentices being made redundant. Poor safety, health and working conditions: In 1975, 18lworkers were killed on site; many were injured or maimed. An official government report predicts that, unless the situation changes, 2000 more will die during the next ten years and 400,000 will be injured. Most can be blamed on the working conditions created by management. Dust, damp and poor working conditions also make building work unhealthy. Contractors are loath to forgo profits to improve this. Site facilities and safety precautions are generally primitive and rudimentary. Low Levels of Unionisation: Casual employment means that many workers do not even belong to a union; So it is difficult to fight for better working conditions, a decent basic rate and against redundancies. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Direct Labour Collective Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived John Murray Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource Undated https://nam.maydayrooms.org/files/original/4a1ea0cd30a53dd2f9ad92fedf11b963.pdf 8cdc3c5bf84e29ec6f34ff32be5da361 https://nam.maydayrooms.org/files/original/070df04ca1a338eeed29f698782658d1.pdf 478423a77c89849f5a117e27eaaba682 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Public Design Group Description An account of the resource Argued that it was only through the public sector that the majority of people could have access to the land and resources needed for housing, education and other essential services. The task was therefore to reform the practice of architecture in local councils to provide an accessible and accountable design service. The Public Design Group proposed reforms to the practice of architecture in local councils to provide a design service accessible and accountable to local people and service users. The following 6 Interim Proposals were developed which were later initiated and implemented in Haringey Council 1979-1985 by NAM members. <ul><li style="font-weight:400;">Local area control over resources </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Design teams to be area based </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Area design teams to be multi-disciplinary </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Project architects to report directly to committee</li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Abolish posts between Team Leader and Chief Architect </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Joint working groups with Direct Labour Organisations</li> </ul> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Building Design Article Subject The topic of the resource Building Design article by John Tulloch commenting on NAM PDS group report to Minister of Housing Description An account of the resource John Tulloch comments.’ THE RIBA’s case for Faced by formulations like | ‘NAM concedes _ that community architecture is this out of the institute’s own j changes ‘in built form — the now: expected to. go to mouth one is reminded that ; new low rise/medium density Housing and Construction ‘Minister Reg Freeson next month. When he gets it, he will have had time to read, mark and inwardly digest a characteristically combative Statement of what community architecture should be from the New Architecture Movement. The main ingredient of NAM’s report* to the minister is a swift kick at some rather vulnerable parts of the Institute’s case. Cries of “‘Foul’’ canbe expected. Pecksniff was an architect.| dogma — and changes in With this sort of patronising ' tenant involvement leading to philanthropy (‘‘the poor’’!); adegreeoflocalcontrolhave mingled with evident self- changed thecharacter of the. interest even Dave Spart struggle. would have an easy job. “What it calls for now is an . The killing blow is, of extension ofcollective local course, smearing the RIBA : control over. resources which with its own ‘“‘professional’’ | includes an accountable and ‘label so it appears like any ' freely available design service. other club of hard-nosed pin- It argues that-this can never ‘striped. gents, such as (perish come from a RIBA-style According to NAM, -what the Institute ispresenting as srg community architecture is a watered-down, depoliticised | formula in which private | architects solve their work “‘architectural ‘fund for the -poor serviced by private prac-. titioners on an individual “The RIBA’s major proposal is for a community aid fund to be established, way local control can be the thought) that béte noir of Labour governments, the BMA. NAM claims that ‘the with finance from the created is through local RIBA’s elaborate display of Government to enable the .councils, suitably -restruc- interest in community archi- settiupngof small, area-based tured. tecture is something of a con. architectural advice centres. Brushi ide objecti Also that it stole the idea They see these operating to public design offices as anyway. alongside and in a similar way “It is significant that the to legal advice centres and, RIBA’s proposals _sfor more interestingly, doctors’ based on market ideology and the economic fears of private architects, the report calls for “community architecture” have developed now, when : ‘This latter parallel is architecture, .expecially in the ; important as the assumptions ; )Unpre- cedented crisis. Although there are supporters of CAWG who are genuinely seeking new ways of relating to the community, hard economic logic and self-pre- servation rather than a new humanitariansim appear to lurk behind the present professional vogue for ‘community architecture.”’ underlying it reflect how litle | based set the attitude of the profession has changed. The medical; professional is not renowned' for its openness. Certainly a: more aware public would undermine the professional role of the doctor... .” he surgeries. ; -theinsertionofanothertierof teda directoltyhe chi : The P include ideas for rendering design offices his account its defining more democratic, with group features are that it was’ leaders elected by the groups problems by running state- essentially a .small-scale’ and chief architects elected ae jinics for the | subsidised clinics for activity based on a well- from group leaders. \ defined localitywith architects A special swipe is reserved working directly with local, for intermediate managers difficult time making out a , People. between groups leaders and NAM doesn’t have a veryembarrassingcase.The‘Aboveall,NAM_sceschiefarchitect.© report starts by quoting with community architecture as “Theirs is a non-design: evident relish a RIBA council ' adopting an oppositional function and their status is paper - on community architecture which says: “We must be moving towards an architecture for everyéne, not just those who have the money to pay for it needed to help the poor to acquire the skills of an architect.” stance ‘‘a political as distinct, dependenotn increasing the from a professional matter’’ | proportion of procedural and involving potential conflict' managerial matters under with established patrons of their control.”’ In the design architecture. . The essence ofthis struggle, money an . *Community Architecture. A —| Public Design Service? Public but Design Group, New Architecture ' Movement, 9 Poland Street, DESIGN In NAM’s terms the only including valuers, led by responsible to tHe connatite for the work of the group and team of the elect, salvation is by works. London Wi. £f(00 grouseaiers BUILDING DESIGN, October 13, 1978 .. $0 & national fund is: NAM argues, was about Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource John Tulloch Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived John Murray & John Allan Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 13 October 1978