This is a book about people in the UK taking charge of their own homes. At a time when there is so much dissatisfaction with the kinds of homes (and their condition) available for sale or rent in the UK, the publication sets out to explain the ways people have wished to house themselves, in places of their own choosing and their own designs.

The following chapters provide a framework to analyse what people have been doing in a wide variety of activities – as individuals, in groups, or on behalf of their local communities – to create homes that can satisfy many kinds of ambition:

The UK's housing sector is increasingly full of uncertainties regarding how people can find and maintain a satisfactory home in which they can thrive. Headline reports routinely note the diminishing control many households have on their domestic circumstances – fewer and fewer households in owner-occupation; rising numbers forced to live in accommodation provided by an uncompromising private rented sector; and prolonged time spent by young adults living in the parental home.

There are also competing debates at national and international levels on the ends to which modern housing provision could or should be tailored – whether its primary function remains the asset basis for a welfare provision that can deliver affordable housing to households unable to find other suitable accommodation, or if it should be focused upon real estate investment to stimulate wider property-based wealth within local communities.

A brief summary of how the UK's housing sector plans for the construction of homes and delivery of neighbourhood services would include the following observations:

• • The UK's present culture of housing provision is a tried and tested framework for mainstream participants to plan and provide housing and neighbourhood services.

• • It is intrinsic to the nature of the UK's ‘open market’ practices that, notwithstanding some occasional innovation, existing relationships remain unchanged until dominant interests accept reasons to change.

• • Ideas for new forms of, or gaps in, housing provision are best assessed and addressed by the experienced partnerships and frameworks already in place – the extent of any local demand (such as represented by community-led housing solutions) is not proven, or will only be present on a very modest scale.