Britain’s housing system is broken. Sky-high house prices mean buying a home is just a dream for many people, yet it is still considered an essential pursuit. Tenants are pushed into poverty or forced to move by rent rises, pulling families and communities apart. Young people see their life options constrained in a string of shared flats, or stuck at home with their parents.

So what’s the solution? In this lecture, architect Professor Flora Samuel will deliver her manifesto for a better housing future. She will show how designing better homes and cities is crucial to resolving the current crisis. Intelligent design of towns and cities can improve people’s health and happiness. Social homes must be built in growing numbers that are not only affordable, but enviable. The aim must be to improve the physical environment for the next generation, to help them tackle a growing list of social, political and economic challenges.

Flora Samuel is Professor of Architecture in the Built Environment at the University of Reading, and a Co-Investigator at the UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence (CaCHE), for which she leads the ‘Place’ theme.

The event is part of a wider series organised by the University of Reading.