@marcodinu

prof in Urban Anthropology. The Act of Living (https://xitter.cf/t.co/4WhidhDCUH) and Unjust Developments (https://xitter.cf/t.co/nD3yFD7XCi) Founder @OtherwiseMag @researchingbrum

 NA-TO-OXF-ADD-BRU-LON-CYM-BHAM
substack.com/@wedonteatbuildings
Joined March 2015
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My #ethnography on #street life, #marginality and #development in #urban #Ethiopia, The Act of Living, is out today with @CornellPress cornellpress.cornell.edu/boo… #AddisAbaba
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After developers complained, the 2026 final version of the Birmingham Local Plan, now under consultation, has significantly scaled back its requirements for student and shared housing. Residents’ concerns have not been treated at the same time way. wedonteatbuildings.substack.…
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Here we go again. Nearly two years ago I made the same point. Reducing the minimum threshold for affordable housing—including social housing—from 35% to 20% in areas like the city centre is not the right policy direction.
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The Plan also lacks provision for the protecting existing housing from demolition and waters down some of the earlier provisions about community-led development and infrastructure in regeneration areas.
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The city is at a crossroads. The Local Plan will determine whether future development prioritises housing needs and residents’ demands, or whether it is shaped primarily by developers’ interests and viability assessments. Some thoughts here: linkedin.com/pulse/housing-r…

Housing and regeneration: when the Local Plan risks becoming a non-policy

When considering housing needs and regeneration, the new version of Birmingham's Local Plan risks becoming a non-policy: one that assumes that lowering the affordable housing threshold will result in...

linkedin.com
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I have been following construction and demolition news globally. This particular story of ghost demolitions reminds us that demolition is embedded in an authoritarian politics of arbitrariness wedonteatbuildings.substack.…
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If you have been following this case, or have additional information that shed further light on what happened, please feel free to share them in the comments. I would be keen to learn more about this unfolding story.
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In a time of illiberal neoliberalism, what is needed is a theory of capitalism that understands failure not as an external crisis but as one of the conditions that enables accumulation itself. On illiberal neoliberalism and the urban: wedonteatbuildings.substack.…
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What will the metropolis of the 2030s and 2040s look like? Some thoughts here about the present urban illiberal moment: wedonteatbuildings.substack.…
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Marco Di Nunzio retweeted
Ethiopia Insider@ethiopiainsiderJul 7
በአዲስ አበባ ፒያሳ የሚገኙ፣ ከ70 እስከ 100 ዓመት ገደማ የቆዩ፣ በቅርስነት የተመዘገቡ ህንጻዎች ፈረሱ። የፌደራል የቅርስ ጥናት እና ጥበቃ ባለስልጣን ህንጻዎቹ “የቅርስ መመዘኛ መስፈርቶችን የሚያሟሉ አይደሉም” ብሏል። 🔴➡️ethiopiainsider.com/2026/184…
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Changes in many local administrations have raised the question of whether we are facing business as usual or a genuine change of course. wedonteatbuildings.substack.…
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Both the Lib Dems and the Green Party have committed to a qualitative change in governance, moving away from a centralised mode of decision-making toward a more participatory one. Placing communities at the centre is crucial, so that their demands can shape policy.
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To achieve that in relation to housing, Birmingham also requires a qualitative shift, and that includes a reconsideration of key decisions made under the previous administration, particularly the Local Plan and current regeneration strategies. Will that change be delivered?
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theweek.in/news/india/2026/0…

'Ghost demolitions' in Gujarat's Surat: 100 homes razed down, residents on streets, but no one...

In a perplexing incident in Nasirnagar, Surat, approximately 100 homes in a slum settlement were demolished on June 3 without any official notice or

theweek.in
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"It would take more than a century to clear the social housing waiting lists in England at the government’s current speed of delivering new social homes, research by Shelter has shown": theguardian.com/society/2026… Add a least 100 more years in Birmingham: ladywoodunite.com/2026/05/19…

Social housing lists ‘would take 119 years to clear at current building rate’

Research shows generations of children in England will grow up homeless unless government addresses council housing debt, charity says

theguardian.com
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250 years to meet social rent housing need. Change is needed. ladywoodunite.com/2026/05/19… In brief (not that brief, sorry). Thread🧵 below

250 years to meet social rent housing need. Change is needed.

There are currently 31,000 families waiting for a council home in Birmingham. In addition, there is a significant backlog of applications still awaiting assessment. As of April 2024, that backlog a…

ladywoodunite.com
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Change is needed
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@LewisJWarner @Tom_Howlett_ @pennycenturyy @AlexanderJBrock @LadywoodUnite @BHAMFHC @AcornBirmingham @DHM_Forum
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