Shelter is one of our most basic human needs. Yet housing, and its legal, social and political meanings and struggles around its distribution, possession and safety, is a concept that can only be fully understood as a historical phenomenon. This podcast series shows how history provides a unique view on how the question of housing is a social justice issue connected to other ones like mass incarceration and the destruction wrought by wars, famines, pandemics, colonial expansion and intergenerational racial, ethnic and class inequalities. All episodes were conceived and produced by students in the course, “Global Urban Histories of Housing Justice” at Columbia University. Using examples from cities around the world, these episodes feature archival and oral history research as they delve into stories that get to the bigger picture about how, throughout the world, the provision of shelter for urban populations has been at the center of urban crises and conflicts, as well as their solutions.
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Shelter is one of our most basic human needs. Yet housing, and its legal, social and political meanings and struggles around its distribution, possession and safety, is a concept that can only be fully understood as a historical phenomenon. This podcast series shows how history provides a unique view on how the question of housing is a social justice issue connected to other ones like mass incarceration and the destruction wrought by wars, famines, pandemics, colonial expansion and intergenerational racial, ethnic and class inequalities. All episodes were conceived and produced by students in the course, “Global Urban Histories of Housing Justice” at Columbia University. Using examples from cities around the world, these episodes feature archival and oral history research as they delve into stories that get to the bigger picture about how, throughout the world, the provision of shelter for urban populations has been at the center of urban crises and conflicts, as well as their solutions.
Cairo to London: Imperial Dynamics of Housing the Poor
Just Housing
21 minutes 24 seconds
4 years ago
Cairo to London: Imperial Dynamics of Housing the Poor
This episode examines the ways in which imperialism impacted perceptions of urban poverty and housing in late 19th-century London, England and Cairo, Egypt. We analyze the British government’s responses to emerging urban crises in each city, and how social perceptions of the poor shaped these policy response. This podcast addresses questions like: How did these perceptions shift between the metropole, London, and the colony, Cairo? And, how does a difference in perception result in differences in policy? To answer these questions, we pored over primary accounts of reformers and travel journal logs from the 19th century. Through our research and expert interviews, “Cairo to London: Imperial Dynamics of Housing the Poor” ultimately seeks to understand the consequences of these differences in perceptions of the poor in the context of urban housing.
Just Housing
Shelter is one of our most basic human needs. Yet housing, and its legal, social and political meanings and struggles around its distribution, possession and safety, is a concept that can only be fully understood as a historical phenomenon. This podcast series shows how history provides a unique view on how the question of housing is a social justice issue connected to other ones like mass incarceration and the destruction wrought by wars, famines, pandemics, colonial expansion and intergenerational racial, ethnic and class inequalities. All episodes were conceived and produced by students in the course, “Global Urban Histories of Housing Justice” at Columbia University. Using examples from cities around the world, these episodes feature archival and oral history research as they delve into stories that get to the bigger picture about how, throughout the world, the provision of shelter for urban populations has been at the center of urban crises and conflicts, as well as their solutions.
