AR September 2023: Property

The legal and economic frameworks of ownership are so ubiquitous that it is easy to forget that they are human-made, with their own specific histories. The September issue of The Architectural Review looks at some of these histories, from the ideas of John Locke to their violent instrumentalisation within a range of colonial contexts. From new housing in Singapore and Geneva to alternative models of co-living and co-operative ownership, and from prospecting tools of digital gameworlds to a story of placemaking gone horribly wrong, the September issue examines how the concept of property shapes design, and who benefits.