PROPERTY – the Myth that Built the World

Property is an incisive examination of how property has shaped the modern world – and why it now threatens the freedoms and stability it was meant to sustain.

The promise of property is that it will make you rich and set you free. But it is also a weapon, an agent of displacement and exploitation, the currency of kleptocrats and oligarchs.

Rowan Moore’s new book is a vivid, far-reaching analysis of our concept of property ownership, from 16th-century feudalism to the present day. It tells powerful stories – of life in the developer-led boomtown of Gurugram in India.

The struggles to form black communities in Missouri and Georgia, are examined, a giant experiment in co-operative living in the Bronx. The theatrics of developer-kings like President Aliyev of Azerbaijan and the Trump family are a fascinating insight.

Above all, Property asks how we have come to view our homes not as a natural human right, but as investments. In this talk, Moore offers hope for how things could be better, with suggested reforms that enable the social wealth of property to return to society, for the benefit of all.