Property, Planning and Protest: The Contentious Politics of Housing Supply

The struggle for the right to housing is a battle over property rights and land use.

For housing to be provided as a human need, land must be recognised as a common right.

Property, Planning and Protest is a compelling new investigation into public opposition to housing and real estate development. Its innovative materialist approach is grounded in the political economy of land value, and it recognises the conflict between communities and real estate capital as a struggle over land and property rights. Property, Planning and Protest is about a social movement struggling for democratic representation in land-use decisions. The amenity groups it describes champion a democratic plan-led system that allocates land for social and environmental goals. Situating this movement in a history of land reform and common rights, this book sets out a persuasive new vision of democratic planning and affordable housing for all.

Quintin Bradley is a Senior Lecturer in Planning and Housing at Leeds Beckett University, and leads research into community planning, housing justice, and social policy. Property, Planning Protest is the fruit of extensive research with amenity groups and housing and land campaigners over a ten year period. Quintin has published extensively in peer reviewed international journals and is the author of ’Localism and Neighbourhood Planning: power to the people?’ published by Policy Press in January 2017 and ’The Tenants’ Movement’ published by Routledge in 2015. A former investigative journalist and activist in squatting and housing rights campaigns, Quintin worked for many years to support and advise tenant-led organisations and federations of residents associations engaged in housing and planning policy.