I am hearing a lot about housing and its lack of affordability. This morning, I listened to Ezra Klein interview Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii on housing, how regulatory regimes meant to protect people and the environment contribute to the lack of affordable housing, inflationary pricing and what needs to be done about it. that inspired me to find the old recording and other documents related to our conversation with Christopher Alexander. Listening through - despite the horrible audio - I am convinced that his ideas from 2007 remain relevant. So, I am creating this archival space, uploading and re-posting this recording. I only wish he was here with us to update and share them himself. As you will surely grasp as you listen, Christopher Alexander was a genius whose imagination and brilliance was matched by his humanity, humility and compassion. 

In our conversation in 2007, Professor Christopher Alexander made a striking comment about the racism and classism that is inherent in the attitudes that limit the creativity and autonomy of low income people to make decisions about their homes are designed, financed and built. He proposed a radical realignment of how HUD budgets are allocated in order to build actual homes and communities with the humanity, dignity and equity we all deserve. 

"Rebuild Neighborhoods, Rebuild the Country" Audio HERE

Professor Alexander passed away in 2022. We were and remain deeply honored that he spent so much time and gave so much thought into his role in our Progressive Shadow Cabinet as nominee for progressive Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. (The website for that project is long gone but I found this recording on my computer.)

This conversation took place in 2007, long before podcasting was a thing and Zoom did not exist. We used a FeeConferenceCall.com account and a community radio station, Voice of Vashon to manage the recording and multiple phone lines needed. Professor Alexander participated from his home in England in the wee hours of the morning. This is a long way to explain the very poor audio quality and pacing. But that takes nothing away from his ideas and the spirit with which he shared them.

Intro and Transcript HERE (Does not include Q&A which was also interesting.)

Christopher Alexander has been an inspiration to me as I gradually built living spaces for myself and my family. I've taken extreme measure to avoid paying rent - some I would never recommend to others. I tried to attend university while living in a VW van for a year and a half. I built a tiny house on a '47 International truck. That cabin, with tall ceilings provided me a great deal of experience and shelter. It has been located in three different places and is currently my home office/studio where I'm writing this post from right now. Small, affordable spaces into which we establish equity over time - gradually growing and adapting the spaces to meet the changing needs in our lives. Tall ceilings, lofts, window seats, pocket doors, alternating tread ladders are the sort of lexicon my wife and I have included in the building of spaces our family has lived in.

I hope those who care about Christopher Alexander's contributions help me share this with others. IF you would like to download and process the audio to improve its quality, break it up into themed segments, or make edits or adjustments to the pace, please feel free and send me whatever you come up with so I can also post here. Reach me at [email protected]

Lastly, I want to thank my long time collaborator, co-producer of Conversations with the Cabinet Diane Wittner, Dal LaMagna ho provided such generous support and founded the Progressive Government Institute, Dan Schueler who made our Progressive Cabinet nomination site, roster and website possible, and to the late Roger Fulton who engineered our programs at the old Voice of Vashon studio. 

PDF of Professor Christopher Alexander's a Pattern Language HERE

Forward together!

Bill Moyer
Backbone Campaign
Solutionary Rail