Young people and housing : A review of the present policy and practice landscape

Young people’s housing consumption is distinctive, with extended periods living in the parental home, an increasing reliance on the private rented sector and constrained access to owner occupation and social housing. This article discusses some of the recent policy and practice responses to this issue, including: shared and low-cost home ownership; high-density ‘young professionals’ lets; and lets through access schemes and social lettings agencies. The article finds a confused policy landscape, where interventions may be regarded as short-term, and without adequate pathways to move up and out of the housing provided. These initiatives have meant that associated policy issues, such as limited access to social housing, have been neglected. A high degree of cross-party consensus means it is likely that present patterns of housing consumption amongst young people will continue into the future. If young people’s housing needs are to be met more adequately, there needs to be a more fundamental reexamination of how the tenure system works for young people in the UK. Special Edition - The Next Five Years: Prospects for young peopl

Respecting corpses: : The ethics of grave re-use

The paper argues that grave re-use cannot be ethically evaluated simply by adverting to cognate issues, such as archeological and medical ethics, since grave re-use comprises a very specific type of disturbance. Whilst there is no general ethical prohibition against disturbing the dead, a more detailed analysis is required in the case of English Victorian ‘perpetuity graves’. It is argued that, even granted that posthumous harms exist, on a proper understanding of what motivated purchase of perpetuity graves their re-use does not constitute a prohibitive posthumous harm. Objections to grave re-use on the grounds of the wellbeing of the living are then considered. Repugnance towards grave re-use is grounded in solicitous attitudes towards the dead and ontological anxiety about the fate of our own and our loved one’s bodies. Nonetheless, repugnance should not be a weighty consideration in the policy debate. Finally, major pragmatic considerations in favour of grave re-use are reiterated. In sum, arguments against grave re-use are weak, and pragmatic arguments for grave re-use are strong, so re-using graves is ethically permissible

Turismo del patrimonio funerario: Definiciones y principios

En muchas grandes ciudades, el ‘primer’ cementerio decimonónico es cada vez más el núcleo del turismo de cementerios. El texto considera el ‘patrimonio funerario’ como un desarrollo relacionado pero diferente. Señala la posible relación incómoda entre el turismo de cemen- terios y patrimonio funerario, en parte debido a la falta de voluntad de asociar directamente las visitas a los cementerios con la muerte. Un turismo de cementerios mal planteado puede socavar el patrimonio tangible e intangible de los cementerios. Muchos cementerios siguen en uso y, por lo tanto, deben considerase como ‘patrimonio vivo’. En estas circunstancias, la interpretación debe reconocer a los afectados como partes interesadas relevantes, mientras que los sistemas de interpretación deben comunicar con más firmeza los diversos aspectos de la mortalidad. Poner de relieve las dinámicas de ‘funcionamiento’ del cementerio es un marco narrativo poco explorado y es necesario ser consciente de que las formas de interpre- tación pueden sesgar el esfuerzo de conservación. Asimismo, se pueden plantear cuestiones éticas. En el texto sugerimos que, como mínimo, esa interpretación debería demostrar cómo la humanidad, en todas las épocas y culturas, se ha esforzado por aceptar la muerte

Nineteenth-century burial reform: a reappraisal

In comparison with other European nations, 19th-century burial reform in England is often related as a history of difference and failure. England lacked centralising legislation to enforce the establishment of new, sanitary cemeteries. Rather, permissive regulation encouraged the creation of new cemeteries, largely reliant on local initiative. This paper presents a re-evaluation of that history by focussing on archival documents from the General Board of Health and local burial board minutes. The paper discusses the way in which key individuals and agencies developed a refined understanding of the sanitary dangers presented by decomposing bodies. This understanding rested on deep familiarity with Continental European research and practices. Despite the lack of centralising legislation, the General Board of Health and the Burial Office administered an effective system of sanitary burial governance which combined inspection, advice and bureaucratic processes that worked with local communities to develop a national network of cemeteries that were managed according to scientific practices

Consolation, individuation and consumption : Towards a theory of cyclicality in English funerary practice

The paper contends that the scale of mortality is a more significant determinant of change in funerary practice than chronological periodisation. A concentration on scale suggests that change in funerary practice runs in cycles, reflecting the search by the bereaved for consolation that is undermined by the threat to individuation posed by industrial-level scales of operation and professionalization. Within this framework, the bereaved make active choices – depending on their unequal resources – amongst a range of products and services to secure consolation. England is posited as a case study to evidence cycles of change, and this paper uses historical data to consider change in use from churchyard to cemetery, from cemetery to crematorium, and the contemporary evolution of natural or ‘green’ burial

Further remarks on modern sepulture : Twenty years of cemetery studies and eight core questions defining cemetery research

This paper reviews cemetery publications over the last twenty years and considers current trends and new directions. In these two decades, cemetery research has included contributions from the humanities, social sciences and sciences and its inter-national reach has expanded substantially, echoing the expansion in geographic scope of death studies. The study of cemeteries has also benefited from a spatial turn within a number of disciplines: within death studies, conceptions of “deathscapes” or “necroscapes” has expanded the range of questions asked of all locations where death is encountered. The paper is ordered using eight core questions that can be asked of any kind of space used for the interment of the dead either as a full body or as cremated remains: how do we define this space?; how has this space come to be?; what does this space mean?; what does this space look like?; how is it used?; what do we express through this space?; how is the space managed? and how is this space valued? The review indicates that the field of cemetery studies is intrinsically interdisciplinary, where nuance of meaning and degree of significance is best captured in the interstices between and interplay of separate discipline traditions, themes and methods

Social justice and cemetery systems

This paper applies social justice frameworks to ‘cemetery systems’ which here denotes the framework by which each nation state orders the disposal of the dead, and which generally includes burial, cremation and the interment or scattering of cremated remains. An application of social justice theory indicates the desirability of certain key principles for all cemetery systems: decent disposal as a human right; democratic accountability; equality of access to services regardless of income; freedom of religious expression; and environmental sustainability. Achieving these principles is not necessarily straightforward, and conflict between principles is heightened by financialisation and population densification

Temporary Accommodation in London : Local authorities under pressure

This research describes the policy and market context for the provision of temporary accommodation in London, and boroughs’ difficulties in securing accommodation to house homeless households. The likely cost of temporary accommodation across London in 2014/15 was close to £663m. The level of expenditure met by London boroughs specifically from their own General Funds can be estimated at just over one quarter of that cost, or £170m