Dwelling Stanca

A space for living and social reproduction, the home is also, increasingly, a commodity. La promotion of mass ownership was at the heart of the conservative revolution that crushed social struggles and wiped out post-World War II urban planning and housing policies; it was an instrument of consensus-building and cultural hegemony that made it possible to present as ‘natural’ the interests of a tiny section of the population: the wealthiest. The repertoire of arguments used to legitimize this operation – made up of ‘enhancement,’ ‘improvement,’ ‘efficiency,’ and ‘modernization’ – comes from far away. Rico- struing family paths and historical facts, passing through different nations and cities, the author of this essay puts together the pieces that made up the picture of the housing situation at the beginning of the new millennium, painting a contemporary scenario in which, contrary to what we are told, the housing problem is not just about ‘the last’: it is about a vision of society.