Thread by @zpenoyre

I want to tell a story with this little device - of a common dysfunction - the renter's paradox

This device, tucked away behind an old door, holds it open - on its own just a simple ease of life feature

But there's something of another time here

I live in an old house - rented now but many times owned and passed between owners

Each owner leaves behind some little detail - thick green paint on the doors - the rambling brick path in the garden - a cracked window pane

Except us, we will leave nothing

We are not allowed to - no alterations - no control

We must leave it how we found it - take down the shelves - remove the furniture - strip it bare and sparse

We do not own the space we’re in - it is borrowed, but more than that - it is made immutable by law

Why? - to stop us from harming it, detracting from its value

For us to make this latch, or one like it, would be a breach of contract

This is the renters paradox, not unique to here or now but common to many bureaucracies:

Fear of negative results precluding the possibility of positive results

The house always atrophies- it grows and shifts to a changing time - the neighbourhood and the lives of those within it

But we cannot evolve it, cannot adapt it. It is caught in a stasis.

The possibility we might damage its value in any way overwhelms any chance of improvement

Unroll please @threadreaderapp