According to Torgersen's much quoted mantra, housing tends to be the wobbly pillar of the welfare state, more vulnerable to retrenchment than other areas of social policy. Building on the Past attempts to spell out the costs of this historical tendency in Britain. As the editors acknowledge, this collection is not a manifesto for change. Instead, by imagining a series of dystopian futures based on the direction of current trends these provocative essays warn of the social consequences of a lack of concerted policy action.

Murie begins the collection by assessing the continued efficacy of tenure as an analytic framework for housing research and policy. Whilst tenure categories are likely to retain some validity, he concludes, processes occurring within tenures are working to create an increasingly stratified housing market, manifested for example in the unevenness of quality, condition and price in the owner-occupied sector. Murie also reconsiders the debate surrounding the ‘residualisation’ of the social housing sector, speculating that its enduring reputation, combined with the departure of older tenants, may leave social housing not only a residual tenure, but also a transient one from which households will seek to move away as soon as they can afford.

‘Affordability’ is a key theme discussed by many of the contributors. Bramley's effort to pause and take stock of the concept in more detail is particularly welcome, and continues his important contribution to the issue of measuring housing need. He begins with a technical account of ways to measure levels of affordability, both normative and empirical. These methods are then employed to show the nature of the ‘affordability crisis’ across the British regions. As well as this quantitative analysis, Bramley raises questions about the political motivations behind the affordability agenda, and in so doing warns that policies aiming to improve affordability may not always serve those most in need. Whilst the provision of affordable housing is likely to win over ‘middle Britain’, policies must aim at overcoming the difficulties of those at a number of levels in the housing market, not just aspiring owner-occupiers.

A number of the contributors take as their focus processes of socio-spatial segregation and inequality. Whitehead gives a useful account of how dynamics of supply and demand play out in the housing system to create geographical inequalities, and uses empirical data to map issues of affordability, quality and tenure by region. In the following chapter, Nevin and Leather consider the impact of current regeneration policies in Manchester and Salford. Both chapters end on a pessimistic note, questioning the capacity of social policies to mitigate pressures towards inequality in the face of political trade-offs and complex social and economic forces. Atkinson's contribution – one of the highlights of the collection – also draws on the theme of socio-spatial segregation, but this time at the neighbourhood level. This chapter provides an insightful example of income and wealth inequalities and how they play out in the housing market. The emergence of gated communities has been facilitated and these inequalities, in spite of the professed aims of national policy, thwart attempts to create diverse and sustainable communities and impact the life chances and opportunities of those left outside gates.

This theme of market failure is carried forward in a discussion of the future implications for housing of an ageing population. In chapter 8, by Riseborough and Fletcher, this demographic trend, in combination with a market irresponsive to the actual (rather than assumed) needs of an older population, is identified as posing serious challenges to the community, planners and political elites.

The dystopian futures presented by these authors aim to be provocative, but at times lapse into nothing more than the expression of an acute scepticism regarding the ability and/or willingness of political elites and regional and local planners to respond to the challenges identified. Chapters 9 and 10 of the book offer welcome respite from this pessimism. Possible futures for the social housing sector are reconsidered in chapter 9, in which Phil Morgan discusses the future identity and role of social housing tenants. He identifies a series of emerging social needs which, if met by social landlords, could reinvigorate the sector and make it a tenure of ‘choice’ once more. In chapter 10, Platt and Cooper present three case studies to suggest that meaningful engagement with the public over planning strategies could provide a valuable antidote to ‘Nimbyism’ and empower policy makers to overcome housing inequalities.

Building on the Past covers a large terrain. However, whilst the book never claims to be a comprehensive guide to housing policy, a number of issues are conspicuously absent. Murie for instance is the only contributor to employ a comparative perspective and its absence from other contributions leaves readers unaware of the distinctiveness of the trends described in Britain. Moreover, given the generally dystopian futures imagined throughout, it is surprising that more is not made of the environmental implications of housing policy. Best, whose discussion of ‘environmental drivers’ is frustratingly brief, concludes that house building is ‘inherently bad for the environment’. Given the positive efforts of some housing developers, researchers and policy makers to bring social, economic and environmental agendas into consonance, it is not clear that this conclusion is entirely defensible. Last, in a reversal of usual trends, a disproportionate amount of attention is given to housing policy in the north, with little analysis of the processes underway in the south east. Indeed, despite being a key milestone in housing policy, likely to have profound and lasting effects in and around the growth areas, developments associated with the Sustainable Communities Plan (2003) are only mentioned in passing.

The collection benefits from a variety of perspectives and research techniques, with each contribution accessible either in its own right, or as part of the book's broader narrative, which the editors attempt to weave together in the introductory and concluding chapters. Interspersed with prosaic comments about the inevitability of continuity, change and uncertainty, these are less rewarding than the central chapters of the book, but do provide a basic historical context for those not well versed in the history of British housing policy, and set out in brief, a possible agenda for future developments. Despite its drawbacks, Building on the Past will be of some interest to those wishing to contribute to the debate about Britain's ‘housing future’.