Right to build

Right to Build is a concept supporting the right of citizens and property owners to build housing for themselves. 

Germany

A right to build is said to be expressed in the German Basic Law (i.e. Constitution). 

Alastair Parvin et al project

Alastair Parvin et al project and book ca.2011.

"If we are serious about designing high quality, sustainable and affordable housing, we need to radically change who procures it: scaling-up self-build is a key project for the next decade.

"In some ways, it shouldn’t be such a great challenge. Driven largely by the web, we have seen the rise of the ‘prosumer’ in almost every other sector of society. Even in housebuilding, the UK is unusual in that only 12-15% of supply is self-build. In much of Europe it makes up more than half. Our research project, A Right to Build, looked at the challenge, explored the current state of the industry, de-bunked common myths, and outlined the shape of a mass self-build industry as a way forward for the UK. Learning from experts and pioneers, it identified the barriers which hold back all but the relatively wealthy and skilled ‘grand designers’ who build today, and speculated on future models of procurement, planning, finance and construction that could unlock the long tail of users who want to buy a plot of land and procure their own house."
- [Parvin 2013]
 

UK "self build" sector

loosely equivalent to what is US is called "custom homebuilding." I.e. a person acquiring a land lot and overseeing a builder to build a house on it. 

 

 

References

• Parvin, Alastair, and David Saxby, Christina Cerulli, Tatjana Schneider. A Right to Build: the next mass-housebuilding industry. 2011. 
   
• Parvin, Alastair. “House or Home?” [article version of “A Right to Build”]. RIBAJ, 1 February 2013. https://www.ribaj.com/intelligence/house-or-home.