Speculations on the Question

What Is Housing?

Peter King

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English

Routledge
29 September 2025

Social issues & processes; Urban communities; Social theory

Series: Routledge Focus on Housing and Philosophy

This book consists of a single essay that speculates on the question what is housing?, and its opposite question, what is not housing? The essay is organised around two distinct discourses around which housing can be framed. The first, which is the dominant discourse, is what I term policy thinking. This is where housing is seen solely in terms of policy formulation and action. The second discourse is private dwelling, which describes housing in terms of a private space used by households. Private dwelling might be seen as a product of policy, but, in actuality, it precedes policy thinking in being the very purpose of policy. Having made this distinction between policy thinking and private dwelling, and so stated in principle what housing is, the subsequent sections of the essay explore the nature of private dwelling in more detail and so substantiate the distinction between the two forms of discourse.

By: Peter King
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 216mm, Width: 138mm,
Weight: 453g
ISBN: 9781032252773
ISBN 10: 1032252774
Series: Routledge Focus on Housing and Philosophy
Pages: 80
Publication Date: 29 September 2025
Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , Primary , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Before retiring in 2018, Peter King worked at De Montfort University for 25 years teaching and researching on housing and public policy. He is the author of 22 books including Thinking on Housing (2017), The Principles of Housing (2015), In Dwelling (2008), The Common Place (2005) and Private Dwelling (2004), all published by Routledge.

Reviews for Speculations on the Question: What Is Housing?

""In this book, King challenges us to reconsider how we think about ‘housing’. Focussing on the concept of dwelling, he argues that the housing research community shift away from studying the exceptions of policy failure, to thinking about subjective and individual experiences of housing more broadly."" - Dr Helen Taylor, Cardiff Met, UK