Territorializing Regulation: a Case Study of "Social Housing" in England

This essay looks at the processes of legislating to create a new regulatory regime as the carving out of new territories of governing. Using the example of the UK Housing Act 1974 it explores, through the theoretical framework of social space, the formation of a regulatory community arising out of this legislation, a community made up of the regulatees not-for profit housing associations and the state regulator. It demonstrates how both in carving out of new territory, and in the 'spatial practices' of the occupiers of this new territory, the community is able to exercise a large element of control of the regulatory regime. It challenges an understanding of law as top-down, replacing it with a more nuanced, three-dimensional understanding of the production of norms and 'common sense'. Regulatees are not just subject to regulation, but shape the space through their expertise and social relations.