THE ANTHILL SOCIAL

Database (e)state

Artist and activist-led PhD research of the role of housing database technologies in processes of urban regeneration. The projects/activities listed below, occupy a hazy space between art, activism, academic research, and documentation of the everyday experience of housing database systems. Together they paint a portrait of the socio-technical complexities of local government housing administration.

Database (e)state: Introduction to the research project.

A calendar view: An exploration of how the standardisation in a URL produces complexity in government.

Shadow Database: A resident-led recreation of Lambeth’s housing database systems.

Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV): A bicycle trailer that records audio and video footage of Cressingham.

Search Drill: An electric drill controlled by a database searches of SOR codes used on Cressingham.

Displacement Calculator
An online form that clarified Lambeth’s financial offer to homeowners of Cressingham. The formalised programmatic structure of the form revealed the disjuncture between Lambeth’s cabinet reports, financial viability assessments, and guarantees to residents facing demolition of their homes.

Housing Justice
A workshop, that I helped devise and deliver, instigated by the housing activist group Concrete Action, Bournemouth University Civic Media Hub, The Centre for Excellence in Media Practice, and Centre for Investigative Journalism.

Lambeth Tech Timelines
Multiple timelines of Lambeth’s administrative technologies, legislation, issues of repair, and historical technical artefacts. They reveal how database technologies and practices are coextensive with central and local government decision making.

Land Value Plot
A visualisation of property sales on Cressigham compared against Lambeth’s proposed new-build prices and average sale prices in the borough.

Paper Houses
A craft activity making houses out of paper print-outs of 5,000 Schedule of Rates(SOR) codes obtained via Freedom of Information requests. This activity revealed how abstract codes can produce multiple associations both inside and outside the technical confines of a database.

Regen Cheat Sheet
A collaboratively written guide for residents and activists. It covers technical information, expertise, legal processes, and general practicalities for coping with a local authority regeneration project.

The Regeneration Algorithm
An SQL query that calculates the average cost of repair for housing estates across Lambeth.

Service Charge Parser
A programming script that uses computer vision technologies to extract a table of data from .pdf versions of homeowner service charge bills. This script supported efforts by Cressingham residents to contest £127,000 of repairs undertaken by Lambeth contractors and staff.

Spreadsheet Schema
A spreadsheet used to reverse-engineer hidden database structures employed by Lambeth in the management of their housing stock.

Search Drill

A drill, attached to a video camera and laptop presents an interface able to search SOR codes. The contraption materialises the dynamics of a database query as it automatically monitors, documents and physically responds to residents searching through lists of repairs data. A search, in the form of a typed word or phrase, spins an electric drill in proportion to the number of SOR codes matched in the query. This contraption provided a humorous means to discuss with residents, map, speculate and ask new questions of Lambeth Councils housing management systems.

Part of a series of activites that explore Schedule of Rates (SOR) codes. Such codes are used within Lambeth Councils housing database systems to categorise types of repair such as carpentry or drains. While SOR codes appear to be a minor detail of repairs management a closer examination reveals that they are implicated in multi-million pound repairs contracts, residents frustrations with call centres, and decisions to demolish peoples homes.