TED Talks Daily - Why are we demolishing homes during a housing crisis? | Olaf Grawert

Episode Date: December 4, 2025

Every minute somewhere in Europe, a house is demolished — along with the memories and sense of community it holds, says architect Olaf Grawert. Exposing the human and environmental cost of demolition for profit, he highlights a bold alternative that could address the growing housing crisis. Learn how rethinking the value of the buildings we already have could create sustainable, affordable homes for millions and reshape the future of cities. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You're listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas to spark your curiosity every day. I'm your host, Elise Hume. Every minute, somewhere in Europe, a house is demolished, and with it, the memories and sense of community it holds. Architect Olaf Grovert exposes the human and environmental cost of demolition for profit, highlighting a bold alternative that could address the growing housing crisis and create sustainable, affordable homes to reshape the future of cities. So on January 10, Paris Hilton shared a video of her house destroyed in the L.A. fire. Walking through the ruins, heartbroken, she said, would break.

her heart even more is knowing that this isn't just her story, because so many people have lost everything. And it's not just walls and roofs that the fire demolished. It's the memories and the stories that made those houses homes. Over one million people liked her post, showing sympathy and support not only for her loss, but for the very idea behind it. Yet, there's something that most of us don't realize, which is that every minute, somewhere in Europe, a house is demolished, every minute. And it's not by wind, floods or fire, but by human hands. And honestly, this is something I don't get, because it's not only the walls and the roofs that we demolish, it's the memories, the communities, and the sense of belonging that we demolish

too, and all of it at the cost of the people and the planet. So the question is, why do we even demolish buildings, no? As an architect who works on renovation, I can tell you it's not because these buildings are broken, and it's not because they cannot be renovated or fixed. It's also not because we want to save energy or build better buildings for those who currently live there. In one word, profit. Today, real estate is the most valuable asset in the world.

So a majority of the global money flows into the world. buying and selling of property. And I ask you what promises most profit new buildings, central apartments and trophy offices. In the logic of money, the old can never beat the new and this fuels a constant cycle of demolition for new construction. Because in the logic of real estate speculators, every building is up for demolition. And this is something you have to understand. No, really, every house in which you live that promises more profit. is up for demolition. Why?

Because to speculators, your house is a commodity. It's a good. And just like an old toaster, you don't fix it, you replace it. So why is demolition so profitable? Well, essentially, it's a question of values. So in our current system, the value of a building is measured only by its price. So in our real estate system, value and price are the same. so if I ask you what is the value of a house

what is the value of this building what would be the answer well in a world in which value and price are the same the answer shrinks to a few economic factors it's very simple it's square meters and land location and market potential so this is the base how real estate speculators calculate it's the base for their strategy

so they would buy a land they pay the price for the building they clear the land, which means they demolish the building, they build a new, so they add the construction costs and they divide it by the square meters. Essentially, this is what real estate speculation is about, how much profit you can extract from an existing building and how much money you can make once the old building is gone and the new one is built.

It's a shockingly cold calculation that turns the profit of tomorrow into a wrecking ball today, and it's based on a spreadsheet, that only counts money and it never asks what a building holds and who lives there. But value and price are actually not the same, no, there is a difference. So the question shouldn't only be what is the value of a house, but the question should also be, what is the price to your home? No, what is the price of the memories and the stories?

So which price do we give to family bonds, to birthday celebrations, to also the fights with our partners and these moments of forgiveness. And what price tag do we also put on community, on the neighborhoods that raise us, on the familiar faces in the hallway, on friendship, or on the larger scale, on the freedom of a next generation to live.

And these are the hidden costs of demolition that no one speaks about, the hidden costs that you will never find in a budget or in a spreadsheet. All of it happening in an era of severe housing crisis, where we all agree, where millions are struggling to find an affordable home, where young people cannot move out of their parents' apartments, where working people are struggling to keep a roof over their head,

and where even the middle class cannot afford property any longer. And beyond these struggles, homelessness is rising in almost every country. But it's not only the people who suffer, the planet suffers too, because the building sector is the biggest CO2 emitter on Earth, yet no one speaks about it. 38% come from the building industry compared to roughly 3% for flying, a number that we discuss a lot, for instance. But it's not only the biggest CO2 emitter, it's also Europe's biggest waste producer. 36% of all the waste comes from the construction industry, and again, to put it in context, compared to only 8% from private households.

So all the energy it takes to demolish a building and all the energy it takes to rebuild a building is only unleashed because the real values, the social and the ecological values, are not accounted in our system. So we are tearing down buildings and ironically heating up both the planet and the housing market. So architects are part of this value chain, no?

Architects are part of it of real estate speculation, of demolition for new construction. But as a citizen, I'm suffering its consequences of rising temperatures and rising rents. So the question is, how can the whole value chain evolve? How can we evolve the value chain by looking differently at what we already have? And that's getting really interesting

because what do we have around us? Actually, Europe is already built. And that's really the good news. Europe is built. Why? Because after the Second World War, we introduced policies that made rebuilding fast, cheap and easy. And this system was basically based on three key pillars, emergency policies, industrial methods, and public money, and all of it aimed at new construction. And even if we don't notice it day to day, this system still writes the rule books, no? It trains us today to still see the rules.

risk instead of seeing the potential, it still trains us to assume that the new is always better than the old. And it's at the core of our legal system, which makes it not only less profitable for the market, but also much, much harder to renovate and transform. Because all of it, tax incentives to subsidies, building codes to regulation, and risk insurances to credits favor starting anew. The question is, what happens if we look at things different? So now that we know it's rooted in this legal system, the market builds its strategy on, and we know about the consequences,

it's the moment where we can say, how do we shift it? And I think there it's important to understand that we, humans, invented that system, so we have to make it work for us, instead of us working for the system. And this is what French architects, Lakotaur and Vassal do, and I want to present you one of their works today.

They look differently at what is already there. To them, every building is heritage, not because of its architectural style, and not because once a famous person lived in there, but because they recognize the social and ecological value in the building. Lackerton-Vassal, they never demolish. They never demolish a building. They add, they build on, they renovate, they transform, and by doing so, they acknowledge all the energy stored in the walls and the roofs

from the thoughts to the labor, to the legacy, and even the CO2. And I want to show you one of their projects, which proves that it's a real alternative, so that renovation and transformation are a real alternative. And we are back at the house, which is a social housing in France, the Grand Park in Bordeaux, 530 apartments that Lacotan Vassal together, with Duro and Utein architects transformed. How all the residents stayed in the house while the building was renovated?

They worked with prefabricated elements that were craned in. These elements arrived and were stacked in front of the existing building like a shelf, almost like a bookshelf that stands in front of the old. What they did in a second step is they opened up the old facade. They replaced the tiny old windows with big sliding doors, opening the interior to this new winter gardens, flooding the space with light and air, but also creating a generosity, you know, it's a social gesture also. You create generosity for those who didn't have it before and the amazing fuse.

And the numbers behind it are really stunning. Half a day to place the prefabricated element, two days to cut open the old facade, two days to plug in the new facade, and one week to renovate the interior. So it takes two weeks to improve everybody's life, no, to cut down the heating bills and to boost local businesses working on renovation.

And all of it at a third of the costs of a standard new apartment. So $55,000 for the renovation of one apartment compared to $165 for new construction. And the new apartment, a standard new apartment would never have the winter gardens and it would never have the generosity that they can provide in their work, which is a proof that the most sustainable house

is the one already built. And that's also the moment where I invite everybody to imagine that this could happen all over Europe, this could happen all around the world because it is a real systemic alternative that actually could function anywhere. So now some of you might think, well, that's a nice story,

but it won't work for my house. because I live in a single-family home, because I own an old apartment and a block in the city block, and this might be true, no, this might not be your way. But I can guarantee you as an architect that there's almost for every building a way to be renovated and transformed. So this can be your story. But, and here is a but,

only if we manage to change the legal system that keeps the old value system in place. We have to understand, that the real innovation and real evolution is finding and recognizing the value in the existing. Because the demolition of buildings is just as outdated as food waste, animal testing or single-use plastics, all things that we as a society already agree on and have an understanding for. And this is why we say we have to create a new system, we have to create a common path and focus on one collective goal,

which is to house Europe in the existing. This is why we started an initiative, a European Citizens Initiative, which is a pan-European project, which has a clear mission. Renovate, don't speculate. Our movement aims to become the largest architectural initiative, advocating for new laws to make renovation and transformation the new norm, a social, ecological but also economic alternative to demolition and new construction, and all with the support of one million citizens across the EU.

And one million is not only the number of supporters we need, it's also the number of likes. Paris Hilton got for her post. So I ask everyone, if that many people can show support for one home lost in fire, imagine the impact that we can make together for the millions of homes that are up for demolition right now. Thank you.

That was Olaf Gravert, speaking at TEDx, Berlin, Germany in 2025. If you're curious about Ted's curation, find out more at TED.com slash curation guidelines. And that's it for today. Ted Talks Daily is part of the TED Audio Collective. This talk was fact-checked by the TED Research Team and produced and edited by our team, Martha Estefanos, Oliver Friedman, Brian Green, Lucy Little, and Tonica, Sung Marnivong. This episode was mixed by Christopher Faisi Bogan. Additional support from Emma Tobner and Daniela Balezzo. I'm Elise Hugh. I'll be back tomorrow with a fresh idea for your feed.

Thanks for listening.