Common Treasures

Vol. 1 - Land, Food and Farming

Vol. 2 - Housing, Planning & Construction.

What is the future of rural communities?

Common Treasures is a new series of books about the challenges faced by rural communities, written by people who are working on the ground and in the fields (including an essay about our business in vol. 1). Each volume gathers essays about climate adaptation, food production and land use, and presents them as alternatives to the prevailing political discourse.

Ambitious thinking about the future of rural places requires connecting traditionally separate disciplines: architecture with agriculture; planning law with land workers’ livelihoods; food systems with local economies; community resilience with land ownership; and housing development with regenerative land use. From essays considering the reintroduction of British wool and flax, more sustainable ways to produce food, to the issues caused by second home ownership and the setting up of community land trusts, these books are a practical and inspirational eye created by those whose lives and work is engaged with the countryside every day.

Published by Little Toller, Common Treasures has emerged from ongoing conversations between members of the architecture collective Assemble and the arts organisation Common Ground, exploring alternative approaches to rural housing — rethinking how it is developed, designed and built.