Before turning to the excellent new book by Alan Power, At Home in the City: Domestic Architecture for Challenging Urban Sites, it is worth recalling a short-lived planning experiment in south London.

In 2019, Croydon council introduced its Suburban Design Guide (SDG), a set of rules intended to guide homeowners, developers and architects building on and densifying small suburban plots. The initiative did not last long. Following political change and local backlash, the guidance was revoked in 2022. 

Yet a recent report by the think-tank Centre for Cities suggests the experiment was far from a failure. Around 2,000 homes were delivered under the guidelines and the organisation estimates that, if similar policies were applied across London, they could enable nearly 6,000 additional homes each year. 

In other words, almost 10% of the capital’s annual housing target could be met through modest developments of six to 10 homes on sites that currently contribute very little to overall supply.

This context makes At Home in the City feel particularly timely.