Book launch of Anna Minton's Big Capital: 11 June 2017
11 June 2017 from 12 noon
RED gallery / Kamio, 1-3 Rivington St, London EC2A 3DT
Book via Eventbrite
In the midst of a devastating housing crisis, many luxury properties stand empty. How did London become such a stark symbol of inequality? And in whose interests? Join writer Anna Minton for a conversation about her new book, looking at how current housing policy leads to gentrification and social cleanising across London, and beyond. “Anna Minton goes digging into the housing crisis in London and beyond. She gives us an account that indicates the crisis was made through decisions and wilful distortions about the consequences of those decisions. Very few of the actors are left standing in her analysis which reads like a sort of murder mystery fully exposed.” Saskia Sassen, Columbia University, author of Expulsions Despite the desperate shortage of housing, tens, perhaps hundreds of thousands of affordable homes are being pulled down, replaced by luxury apartments aimed at foreign investors. In this ideological war, only market solutions to housing - which is a public good - are considered, which paradoxically makes the situation worse, because the market responds to the needs of global capital rather than ordinary people needing homes to live in. In politically uncertain times, the housing crisis has become a key driver creating and fuelling the inequalities of a divided nation. Anna Minton cuts through the complexities, jargon and spin to give a clear-sighted account of how we got into this mess and how we can get out of it. Big Capital reveals the complete financialization of the housing sector – housing is now seen purely as a financial asset rather than a public good and human right. This points to a broader trend in global capital that urgently needs to be addressed. “Fierce, incisive, important. Anyone who lives or works in a building should read this book” Will Self