According to housing minister, Kit Malthouse, the key to solving the housing crisis in the UK is “putting beauty at the heart of our housing and communities policy.” On November 3, 2018, the initiative to champion beauty when building better homes was announced through the "Building Better, Building Beautiful" Commission. What was thought to initiate a progressive interrogation of how beauty within the built environment would solve problems turned into a "parody of Victorian mores" as parliament debated. 

Examples of government dabbling in notions of "what is beautiful, progressive, and architecturally mesmerizing" can be found throughout history. Building quality has decreased over time while monopolies over land and project developments have increased. Rightfully addressed by many it's quite easy to use these government initiatives as distractions from the real issues at hand. Although the Guardian article references the housing crisis in the UK, issues of government influence in architecture and design are found all over the globe. Using the idea of beauty to address possible solutions at "solving" an issue like housing is merely the tip of the iceberg. "The government may be keen to put beauty at the top of the agenda, but whose idea of beauty are they talking about?" 

Several questions are being asked, and the answers are far from being presented. As of January 24th, a series of public debates is said to take place at Central Saint Martin's art college in London. One can only hope these public discussions can spark viable solutions versus an endless cycle of who's version of beauty is right or wrong. However, what can be expected is the plight of distorted views and ideas. One idea that has sparked an answer is the use of artificial intelligence. According to research from Warwick Business School's Data Science Lab, a "deep learning model” model can determine what makes a location beautiful, based on a database of 200,000 images of places in the UK that had been rated for their beauty by 1.5 million people on the website ScenicOrNot." 

These public debates are part of the Fundamentals: Beauty series which will run from Jan 24th - February 21s. To learn more about the series click here.