Profitable Neighbourhoods: from isolated estates to sustainable communities

Time's up on ‘product’— we need neighbourhoods!

The UK Government are now measuring value in the round, rather than viewing non-financial benefits as intangibles or externalities to the balance sheet. Alongside the nascent development of such measurement approaches—The Green Book, Natural Capital, and Culture and Heritage Capital—there is also a growing recognition that these assets are often inextricably bound to and co-dependent on place.

In her talk Cany Ash will explore how can we build homes in a way that creates more value on a broader front, using knowledge of ‘optimism bias’ and ‘sensitivity’ to weigh up future risk and invest in the right places. She argues that we are on the brink of doing this very badly, because silos in government have prevented this more enlightened approach to profit and value from addressing the housing crisis. Indeed, the very established downsides of isolated residential estates—reinforcing class boundaries, exacerbating loneliness, and reducing access to mainstream economic life—are not being recognised as a reason to stop sprawl.