How anarchist architecture could help us build back better after COVID

Paul Dobraszczyk - Building our communities following anarchistic ideals of bottom-up self-organisation could contribute to a more inclusive, ecological and egalitarian future, writes Lecturer Paul Dobraszczyk (UCL Bartlett School of Architecture). Architecture and anarchy may not seem like the most obvious pairing. But since anarchism emerged as a distinct kind of politics in the second half of the 19th-century, it has inspired countless alternative communities. Christiania in Copenhagen, Slab City in the California desert, La ZAD in the French countryside, and Grow Heathrow in London all feature self-organised forms of building. On the one hand, this includes remodelling existing structures, usually abandoned buildings. On the other, it can mean building entirely new spaces to accommodate individual liberty and radical change in social organisation. At its heart, anarchism is a politics of thought and action.