Architects made a huge number of mistakes in the 20th century. Many in that profession designed 'like they didn't give a shit'. It is nice to see that some are trying to redress the balance.

Travel around the world, and you can see the carnage from past architect-led attempts at providing housing and communities for the poor. Interview the residents (maybe prisoners?) in these places, and to a man and woman, you will find they hate these places but have no choice. They are broke.

What is now needed is something like Ikea to step forward. We need to be able to go to a giant superstore, browse the 'housing solutions' for sale, and then pick the one we can afford and suits our taste and lifestyle. We need to ditch all the old models of providing housing to the poor and middle classes. All people can afford something for their housing. What they need is real choice and high quality choices.

I have have a lot of money, yet it is never enough with the housing market as it is. And when I do go look around, I hate 90 per cent of what is on offer in my income bracket. It's crap. All of it designed by architects, and guys in black turtle necks called 'Bruce'.

We need this small cabal of smart designers to ditch the prejuduce against business and become aggressive capitalists. Only an agressive capitalist in the Walmart mold is going to get out there and fight for the right prices and products for poor and middle class consumers. Any other initiatives will just be show case numbers, inhabited by a sprinkling of righteous poor people, but mosly inhabited by artists and poseurs. These things work, but there are so few of them, they make little difference in the bulk housing market.

There is plenty of land; let's get building smartly.

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