English socialists and the question of collective habitat in the first half of the XIXth century
Résumé
The question of housing lies at the heart of the reflection carried out by the British socialists in the first half of the XIXth century. Developing their analyses and their ideological proposals on the basis of a radical criticism of the consequences of the manufacturing and urban social order that was being born at the time, these socialists, often branded as utopians, invent a new project of human and social organization that implies architectural forms totally opposed to the contemporary system. The projects designed by Robert Owen, and his more or less faithful disciples, are characterized by the choice of a collective, if not outright collectivist, model. Not only do the architectural forms emphasize the collectivity, thus denouncing the illusory character of the promotion of the individual type of housing (at a time when the cottage system was hyped through the Albert cottages), but the socialist system goes far beyond the mere question of the housing to propose the invention of an entirely collective type of life, that, along accommodation, extends to work, education, recreation, nourishment and culture.