A New Land Contract - Alastair Parvin

The UK is in the grip of a housing crisis – one that is having a deeply corrosive effect on our society, our economy and our environment. Understanding and addressing the root causes of that crisis is made all the harder by the many myths and misconceptions that surround it. At its heart, it is not really a housing crisis at all, but a _land_ crisis. And arguably it is not a land crisis, but a function of our land system. Open Systems Lab co-founder Alastair Parvin will briefly unravel the historical origins of that land system, and explore how we might redesign it for the 21st century.

Alastair Parvin is a systems designer and civic entrepreneur. He is co-founder of Open Systems Lab, a non-profit R&D company developing digital technologies to transform housing, construction, planning and cities in the 21st century. Their current projects include WikiHouse, Plan✕ and Affordable Land. He also writes, speaks and advises widely on housing, land, digital innovation, and the political implications of the fourth industrial revolution, including 'A Right to Build' (RIBA Award for research 2011) and 'Scaling the Citizen Sector' (2016), and sits on the Scottish Government Task force for Digital Planning.