Disobedient Buildings: An Ethnography of Ageing Bodies in Ageing Buildings

Disobedient Buildings is a five-year research project led by Professor Inge Daniels at the University of Oxford and funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (2020–2025). It explores the everyday lives of residents in ageing tower blocks in the UK, Romania and Norway, revealing what home means inside buildings too often overlooked and misunderstood (www.disobedientbuildings.com). Daniels’ contribution draws on two years of ethnographic fieldwork in London (2020–2023) across six post-war tower blocks built between the 1950s and 1980s. Often dismissed as outdated and stigmatised, these buildings emerge as spaces filled with light, resilience and an enduring sense of belonging and care, prompting a rethinking of what home is and how it might be improved for all in the future.

Focusing on parallel ageing between buildings and residents, Daniels’ presentation foregrounds the lives of older adults, many of whom have lived in their flats for decades and wish to age in place. Their experiences challenge assumptions about isolation and loneliness, showing how independence is actively produced through formal and informal networks of care. From NHS-provided medical devices to chats with concierges and café workers, from walks in communal gardens to the companionship of pets, residents build and sustain webs of support that allow them to live with dignity. These themes are further explored through the screening of Daniels’ ethnographic short film She Waves at Me, which juxtaposes the care involved in maintaining decaying buildings with the everyday practices through which older residents care for themselves and others, human and non-human alike.

This session will be chaired by Dr Amy Barron from the Unviersity of Manchester's Geography department.

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Host or Publisher Manchester Urban Ageing Group