Empowerment and Identity Through Self-Build in Walters Way and Nubia Way Part 2 Dissertation 2026 Izzy Gibson Kingston University Kingston | UK This dissertation examines two Segal self-build housing schemes in Lewisham, London, built within a decade of each other. Both projects were influenced by architect Walter Segal's simplified timber-frame method, yet grew from very different circumstances. Walters Way began through a council-led experiment in alternative housing delivery, whereas Nubia Way emerged through the efforts of Fusions Jameen, a Black-led housing cooperative building against hostility from the surrounding area. While Walters Way has been widely published, Nubia Way has received comparatively little attention.Combining archival research with interviews, site visits and photography of four current residents, this study brings the two schemes into direct comparison for the first time. It asks how empowerment through self-build has actually endured, decades after construction, in participation, adaptation and everyday inhabitation. Using Pickerill's idea of 'negotiated autonomy' alongside Turner and De Carlo, it is argued that both projects generated real empowerment, but on unequal terms.At a time when over 1.3 million households remain on social housing waiting lists in the UK, this research argues that self-build's value lies not only in the homes it produces, but in the skills, relationships and identities that emerge through the act of building and challenging inequalities. Tutor(s) Dr. Christoph Lueder