Raising the Roof: How to Solve the United Kingdom's Housing Crisis


Book Description

Raising the Roof addresses one of the key issues of our era – the UK’s housing crisis. Housing costs in the United Kingdom are among the highest on the planet, with London virtually the most expensive major city in the world for renting or buying a home. At the core of this is one of the most centralised planning systems in the democratic world – a system that plainly doesn’t work. A system that has resulted in too few houses, which are too small, which people do not like and which are in the wrong places, a system that stifles movement and breeds Nimbyism. The IEA’s 2018 Richard Koch Breakthrough Prize, with a first prize of £50,000, sought free-market solutions to this complex and divisive problem. Here, Breakthrough Prize judge Jacob Rees-Mogg and IEA Senior Research Analyst Radomir Tylecote critique a complex system of planning and taxation that has signally failed to provide homes, preserve an attractive environment and enhance our cities. They then draw from the winning entries to the Breakthrough Prize, and previous IEA research, to put forward a series of radical and innovative measures – from releasing vast swathes of government-owned land to relaxing the suffocating grip of the green belt. Together with cutting and devolving tax, and reforms to allow cities to both densify and beautify, this would create many more homes and help restore property-owning democracy in the UK.




Social Housing, Wellbeing and Welfare


Book Description

Bridging housing studies and social policy, this book analyses competing interpretations of the role and value of social housing in the UK. The author provides new research on the relationship between housing and wellbeing, and challenges the pervasive policy and social consensus that owner-occupation is the ‘natural’ choice of aspiring people.




Having Your Say


Book Description

Today should be a Golden Age for free speech – with technology providing more ways of communicating ideas and opinions than ever before. Yet we’re actually witnessing a growing wave of restrictions on freedom of thought and expression. In Having Your Say a variety of authors – academics, philosophers, comedians and more – stress the fundamental importance of free speech, one of the cornerstones of classical liberalism. And they provide informed and incisive insights on this worrying trend, which threatens to usher in a new, intolerant and censorious era.




Applying Social Policy to Criminal Justice Practice


Book Description

This book aims to make clear the interconnections between social policy and criminal justice practice, bringing together key social policy concepts within a framework for reducing reoffending rates. The book focuses on the key social policy issues of employment, health and mental health, low income and poverty, housing and family. It shows how understanding and treating these as issues interconnected to criminal justice outcomes can and does lead to improvements in criminal justice practice. This book enables students and criminal justice practitioners to understand how a social policy focus can better inform practice with those involved in the criminal justice system. It features: • a 10 point summary of key points for learning; • chapter heading questions to support independent learning; • tables and graphs to illustrate the text.




The Sharing Economy: Its Pitfalls and Promises


Book Description

Transactions have always taken place. For hundreds of years that ‘place’ was a market or, more recently, a shopping mall. But in the past two decades these physical locations have increasingly been replaced by their virtual counterparts – online platforms. Here, author Michael C. Munger demonstrates how these platforms act as matchmakers or middlemen, a role traders have adopted since the very first exchanges thousands of years ago. The difference today is that the matchmakers often play no direct part in buying or selling anything – they just help buyers and sellers find each other. Their major contribution has been to reduce the costs of organising and completing purchases, rentals or exchanges. The Sharing Economy: Its Pitfalls and Promises contends that the key role of online platforms is to create reductions in transaction costs and it highlights the importance of three ‘Ts’ - triangulation, transfer and trust – in bringing down those costs.




An Introduction to Democracy


Book Description

What is democracy? How does it work? What are its strengths – and its shortcomings? Two-thirds of the world’s population, in over 100 countries, live under governments that claim to be democratic. Yet few of those governments live up to the ideals of democracy, or respect its key principles and institutions. Here, author Eamonn Butler defines democracy, explains its purposes, and shows the difference between genuine democracy and the many sham versions that currently exist. He outlines the history of democracy and the benefits it brings. But he also points out the many myths about it that blind us to its limitations. And he explains why it’s important to have a clear understanding of democracy – and how easily it can be lost or abused when people do not properly understand it. Importantly, he asks why so many people today have become disillusioned with democratic politics – and what, if anything, can be done about it. This lucid and fascinating book provides a straightforward introduction to democracy, enabling anyone to understand it – even if they’ve never experienced it.




Congressional Record


Book Description

The Congressional Record is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress. It is published daily when Congress is in session. The Congressional Record began publication in 1873. Debates for sessions prior to 1873 are recorded in The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States (1789-1824), the Register of Debates in Congress (1824-1837), and the Congressional Globe (1833-1873)




Platform Based Design and Immersive Technologies for Manufacturing and Assembly in Offsite Construction


Book Description

This book explores the applications of virtual reality technologies in building design and offsite construction. Its focus is on how small and medium-sized architectural and construction practices with limited budgets and time can implement innovation through visualisation creation. Virtual reality technologies, known as empathy machines, offer a productive interaction process for clients and professionals. Gaming and simulation have already proven their efficacy in solving problems in science and business. However, the next challenge is designing data-rich virtual environments that can enhance clients' spatial understanding, simplify architect-client communications, provide customisation options, consolidate quantification, and export data directly to manufacturers' software, minimizing fragmentation across the entire building information management (BIM) lifecycle. With this book, architects and construction professionals can learn how to leverage virtual reality technologies to improve their work processes and enhance client engagement. Whether you're new to virtual reality or an experienced practitioner, this book provides valuable insights and practical tips to help you harness the power of this exciting technology. With this book, architects and construction professionals can learn how to leverage virtual reality technologies to improve their work processes and enhance client engagement. Whether you're new to virtual reality or an experienced practitioner, this book provides valuable insights and practical tips to help you harness the power of this exciting technology. With this book, architects and construction professionals can learn how to leverage virtual reality technologies to improve their work processes and enhance client engagement. Whether you're new to virtual reality or an experienced practitioner, this book provides valuable insights and practical tips to help you harness the power of this exciting technology. With this book, architects and construction professionals can learn how to leverage virtual reality technologies to improve their work processes and enhance client engagement. Whether you're new to virtual reality or an experienced practitioner, this book provides valuable insights and practical tips to help you harness the power of this exciting technology. With this book, architects and construction professionals can learn how to leverage virtual reality technologies to improve their work processes and enhance client engagement. Whether you're new to virtual reality or an experienced practitioner, this book provides valuable insights and practical tips to help you harness the power of this exciting technology. With this book, architects and construction professionals can learn how to leverage virtual reality technologies to improve their work processes and enhance client engagement. Whether you're new to virtual reality or an experienced practitioner, this book provides valuable insights and practical tips to help you harness the power of this exciting technology. With this book, architects and construction professionals can learn how to leverage virtual reality technologies to improve their work processes and enhance client engagement. Whether you're new to virtual reality or an experienced practitioner, this book provides valuable insights and practical tips to help you harness the power of this exciting technology. With this book, architects and construction professionals can learn how to leverage virtual reality technologies to improve their work processes and enhance client engagement. Whether you're new to virtual reality or an experienced practitioner, this book provides valuable insights and practical tips to help you harness the power of this exciting technology. With this book, architects and construction professionals can learn how to leverage virtual reality technologies to improve their work processes and enhance client engagement. Whether you're new to virtual reality or an experienced practitioner, this book provides valuable insights and practical tips to help you harness the power of this exciting technology. With this book, architects and construction professionals can learn how to leverage virtual reality technologies to improve their work processes and enhance client engagement. Whether you're new to virtual reality or an experienced practitioner, this book provides valuable insights and practical tips to help you harness the power of this exciting technology.







Investigating Social Problems


Book Description

“Given the complexity of the issues, the study of social problems requires, indeed demands, specialized focus by experts.” -A. Javier Treviño Welcome to a new way of Investigating Social Problems. In this groundbreaking new text, general editor A. Javier Treviño, working with a panel of experts, thoroughly examines all aspects of social problems, providing a contemporary and authoritative introduction to the field. Each chapter is written by a specialist on that particular topic. This unique, contributed format ensures that the research and examples provided are the most current and relevant in the field. The chapters carefully follow a model framework to ensure consistency across the entire text and provide continuity for the reader. The text is framed around three major themes: intersectionality (the interplay of race, ethnicity, class, and gender), the global scope of many problems, and how researchers take an evidence-based approach to studying problems.