Edinburgh Research Explorer The Participatory Turn in Urbanism Citation for published version: Kaminer, T & Krivy, M (eds) 2013, 'The Participatory Turn in Urbanism' Footprint, vol 7, no. 2, pp. 1-173.
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13 Volume 7, Number 2
THE PARTICIPATORY TURN IN URBANISM AUTUMN 2013
Introduction: The Participatory Turn in Urbanism Maroš Krivý and Tahl Kaminer, editors
Aporia of Participatory Planning: Framing Local Action in the Entrepreneurial City Ryan Love
An Anthropology of Urbanism: How People Make Places (and What Designers and Planners Might Learn from It) Brooke D. Wortham-Galvin
Towards an Architecture of Dissensus: Participatory Urbanism in South-East Asia Camillo Boano and Emily Kelling
The ‘Diverse Economies’ of Participation Julia Udall and Anna Holder
The Importance of Recognition for Equal Representation in Participatory Processes: Lessons from Husby Karin Hansson, Göran Cars, Love Ekenberg and Mats Danielson
Cooperatives, Control or Compromise? The Changing Role of Participation in Norwegian Housing Eli Hatleskog
Review Articles by Eva Maria Hierzer and Philipp Markus Schörkhuber, Monika Grubbauer, Jenny Stenberg, Socrates Stratis, Henriette Bier and Yeekee Ku, and Maroš Krivý
Contents
1
Introduction: The Participatory Turn in Urbanism Maroš Krivý and Tahl Kaminer, editors
7
Aporia of Participatory Planning: Framing Local Action in the Entrepreneurial City Ryan Love
21
An Anthropology of Urbanism: How People Make Places (and What Designers and Planners Might Learn from It) Brooke D. Wortham-Galvin
41
Towards an Architecture of Dissensus: Participatory Urbanism in South-East Asia Camillo Boano and Emily Kelling
63
The ‘Diverse Economies’ of Participation Julia Udall and Anna Holder
81
The Importance of Recognition for Equal Representation in Participatory Processes: Lessons from Husby Karin Hansson, Göran Cars, Love Ekenberg and Mats Danielson
99
Cooperatives, Control or Compromise? The Changing Role of Participation in Norwegian Housing Eli Hatleskog
Review Articles
115
Infrastructural Critique. The Upside Down of the Bottom-Up: A Case Study on the IBA Berlin 84/87 Eva Maria Hierzer and Philipp Markus Schörkhuber
123
Mainstreaming Urban Interventionist Practices: the Case of the BMW Guggenheim Lab in Berlin Monika Grubbauer
131
Citizens as Knowledge Producers in Urban Change: Can Participation Change Procedures and Systems? Jenny Stenberg
143
Learning from Failures: Architectures of Emergency in Contested Spaces (Pyla, Cyprus) Socrates Stratis
153
Generative and Participatory Parametric Frameworks for Multi-Player Design Games Henriette Bier and Yeekee Ku
163
Participation, Housing, and the Question of ‘Good Architecture’ Maroš Krivý
1
Introduction: The Participatory Turn in Urbanism Maroš Krivý and Tahl Kaminer, editors
In the last decade, a ‘participatory culture’ has
to ideas as diverse as the ‘Non-Plan’ of Reyner
evolved and expanded dramatically, advocating
Banham et al, Giancarlo di Carlo’s ‘Urbino’, or Jane
participation as a radical form of direct democracy
Jacobs’s ‘diverse city’.4
and demanding its implementation outside the traditional territory of institutional politics. Fuelled
Whereas participatory planning remained impor-
by innovations in the field of information technology,
tant in much of Latin America, in Western Europe it
such as Web 2.0 or social networks, within the fine
has been integrated into planning policies in diluted
arts this emergent movement has brought about
forms such as ‘public consultation’. In the United
a ‘participatory turn’. The new aesthetics related
States, many of the Community Design Centres
to this turn have been enthusiastically theorised
established in the late 1960s and early 70s ended up
and endorsed as ‘relational’ (Nicholas Bourriaud),
by the late 1980s as low-profile and limited-impact
‘dialogical’ (Grant Kester), ‘collaborative’ (Maria
neighbourhood organisations. The realisation of
Lind), or simply ‘social’ (Lars Bang Larsen).1 This
the Non-Plan in the development of free enterprise
participatory turn has also been subjected to a
zones, such as the London Docklands, has been
critical examination. Claire Bishop, in particular,
acknowledged by Paul Barker, one of the authors of
showed that the promise of equality between the
the original proposal;5 the lessons learnt at Urbino
artist and the audience is problematised by the
have been mostly forgotten, overwhelmed by indi-
outsourcing of authenticity from the author to the
vidualist-consumerist forms of participation, such
audience, and by the excessive deployment of
as the ‘shopping list’ consultation process of the
ethical, non-aesthetic categories such as ‘demon-
WIMBY project in Hoogvliet, whereas the ‘diverse
strable impact’ as a means of critical evaluation.2
city’ has fostered gentrification and mutated into the ‘creative city’.
The participatory turn can also be identified in urban planning, urban design and architecture. In
The explicit demands for inclusive, legitimate
these fields, as in others, the ‘turn’ is necessarily
forms of sovereignty and for the decentralisa-
also a ‘return’ of sorts to the ideas and ideologies of
tion of power, which are at the core of the political
the 1960s, an era in which participatory demands
demands for participation, infer an ideal of freedom
were backed by influential and radical political
– from the state, from top-down power structures
movements. The origins of participatory planning
and from institutions. The recent Occupy and Tea
can be thus traced back to concepts of advocacy
Party movements, for example, manifest two forms
(Paul Davidoff), equity (Norman Krumholz), and
of systematic dissatisfaction with the state and with
transactive (John Friedmann) planning. In various
representative democracy that have emerged in
ways, the notion of public participation was central
the wake of the recent financial crisis. In spite of
3
13
The Participatory Turn in Urbanism, Autumn 2013, pp. 1-6
2
their contrasting political orientation, the critique
deliberation, will-formation and decision-making,
of state politics and emphasis on citizens’ direct
necessarily correspond to diverse democratic
power lie at the core of both movements. Yet, as
political theories. Among these are associative
this radical freedom posits autonomous subjects as
democracy (Paul Hirst, Joshua Cohen), communi-
its end, the idea of collectivity is weakened, rele-
tarianism or ‘neo-corporatism’, republicanism (Hardt
gated to the state of a contingent, fleeting, social
and Negri), direct democracy, deliberative democ-
grouping, valued primarily as a counter-force to that
racy (Habermas, Dryzek, Benhabib), and agonistic
of government.
pluralism (Mouffe, Barber),7 to name but a few. Each of these theories tends to privilege different social
Also bypassed is one of the original arguments
configurations and different processes of democrati-
for participation: giving voice to the subaltern and
sation, and therefore participatory practices require
expanding political equality by expanding social
more than a reaction to visible, existing conditions
and economic equality. As Boris Buden recently
in situ. Theories mediating between political theory
argued, a concern for ‘community’ and ‘culture’ has
and urban practices are few, and often limited in
replaced ‘society’ as the horizon of contemporary
their scope and rigour. By strengthening such theo-
politics. This is evident in urban practices. Related
ries, by articulating a socio-historical perspective
to the 1990s concern with programme, the domi-
which contextualises the specific tactics of partici-
nant model for activism and experimental (albeit
patory practices, the latter’s efficacy and larger
increasingly mainstream) practice has become
societal role can be properly and fully assessed.
6
the participatory platform, focused on community consolidation and on facilitating cultural expression
To place ‘the participatory turn’ in a socio‑histor-
and identity formation. Yet such platforms tend to
ical context illuminates its underlying logic. While
have a fleeting existence, and consequently also a
the 1960s call for participation certainly embodied
limited impact. Where, when, by whom, for whom,
a commitment to equality, to empowering the subal-
for what (and whether) they are implemented is
tern, it already clearly expressed an anti-statist
rather arbitrary; often, the creation of participatory
position, with the centralised and powerful welfare
platforms reproduces the inequalities against which
state as the major adversary. Empowered by state
they were tailored. The vulnerability of communi-
retrenchment, in the ensuing decades, many of the
ties, the themes of grant programmes, architects’
original 1960s critical advocacy groups were, in
idiosyncratic interests or the presence of ‘enlight-
fact, invited to participate and take responsibility.
ened’ clients is decisive for shaping the structure of
Planning bureaucracies, as mentioned above,
participatory practices in today’s cities.
responded to the discontent by incorporating participatory processes into their protocols.
Many of the urbanists and architects currently involved in participatory practices, such as Atelier
Forty years later, national and local governments
d’architecture autogérée, Stalker, or raumlabor,
have retreated from many of the territories they had
react to contingent conditions and tailor their
previously occupied, including managing urban
projects and methodologies to the situations they
development and constructing social housing. In
encounter, yet the specific practices deployed have
this process, the empowerment of the 1960s advo-
significant ramifications, which are rarely consid-
cacy groups has also allowed their co-optation: they
ered beyond their immediate impact. Diverse forms
are required to compete for funding and, in effect,
of participation, different types of representative
function as private-market entities.8 A broadening
or participatory institutions, disparate protocols for
of freedom may be discernible in all this, yet the
3
weakening of the state has strengthened citizens
evaluated by disinterested experts and professional
qua entrepreneurs (of themselves) rather than
consultants.
strengthening them qua political actors. The state,
has been replaced by market-driven bureaucracy
the sole power capable of keeping market power
and horizontally dispersed management models,
at bay, thus appears to be a bogus enemy of many
in which citizens, private corporations and public
contemporary participatory movements. At the end
bodies are considered as mere ‘stakeholders’ of the
of the day, anti-statism can instead be held suspect
same order.
Top-down,
state-led
bureaucracy
of primarily aiding the expansion of the market in the name of empowering ‘the people’.
Brooke Wortham-Galvin broadens the territory and discusses the unfolding of participation,
The co-opting of participatory processes by
including
the
related
questions
of
freedom,
planning departments, the systematic disregard
autonomy and self-organisation, through a number
of inequalities, and the empowering of the market
of projects and initiatives from the past and present.
resulting from ‘anti-statism’ call for a rigorous evalu-
The particular focus of her paper is on the Occupy
ation of the participatory turn. Does it necessarily
movement and on homesteading practices in their
leave inequalities intact? Is it a means of achieving
historical and contemporary variations. When
‘quietism’ by placating the lower middle classes?
she asks ‘For whom is the extra café seating in
The objective of this issue of Footprint is to criti-
Portland?’, she queries everyday urbanism and its
cally examine the recent participatory turn in urban
assumptions.
planning and urban design. While the ‘right to the city’ has an important strategic value in fighting
Camillo Boano and Emily Kelling study the Baan
social and urban exclusion, it is less capable of
Mankong, an ambitious housing project in Thailand.
responding to contradictions resulting from urban
They deploy Jacques Rancière’s work as an explan-
policies of inclusion. What does the advocacy of
atory theoretical framework, albeit inferring, though
popular participation by planning authorities, urban
refraining from explicitly arguing, its reversibility:
policy strategists and international urban consult-
namely, that Rancière’s theories can also become
ants mean? Why is participation encouraged, and
the point of departure for concrete projects. Focusing
who is giving the encouragement? What do different
on the phenomenon of community architecture, the
social actors understand by participation? Can the
authors see its political role at two levels: firstly, the
notion be opened up by asking: participation by
residents’ involvement in the actual design chal-
whom, where, and to do what? And how should we
lenges the standardised bleakness of ‘housing for
respond to a frustrating awareness that the prom-
the poor’, and secondly, repositions them as active
ises of equality implicit in every participatory act
partners in design expertise.
are recurrently compromised by inequality between those who stage the participatory process and those
Julia Udall and Anna Holder raise important
who are invited to participate?
questions regarding the real-estate market, power, and participatory initiatives, by reviewing a project
This issue of Footprint opens with Ryan Love’s
in which they took part. The authors draw on J.K.
critique of the institutionalisation of participation, a
Gibson-Graham’s concept of ‘diverse economies’
synoptic overview that addresses issues ranging
to analyse how participatory practices tend to be
from culture to power. Though quality (of life) is now
evaluated in terms of their market-related economic
decidedly among the key objectives considered by
value and, consequently, how practices that cannot
planners, it is also something to be assessed and
be evaluated in these terms are made ‘invisible’.
4
Karin Hansson, Love Ekenberg, Göran Cars, and
Monika Grubbauer studies BMW Guggenheim
Mats Danielson provide an overview of participation
Lab’s Berlin ‘residency’, unfolding the debate and
that interweaves questions of deliberative democ-
controversy surrounding the project, and using it
racy with cultural and artistic production. They
as a means of identifying the co-optation and insti-
outline fieldwork carried out in Husby, a suburb
tutionalisation of participatory and interventionist
of Stockholm, in which questions of community-
projects. Grubbauer analyses how the project
building, local pride and image overlap issues such
promoted DIY practices and staged the city as an
as employment, housing quality and availability,
experimental laboratory, yet the implemented forms
and education. The authors identify ‘recognition’ as
of participation failed to challenge the social divide
one of the key prerequisites for successful partici-
in any significant way.
pation and analyse how it is shaped by media representation.
Jenny Stenberg’s discussion of two projects in Hammarkullen in Gothenburg focuses on the inter-
Eli Hatleskog presents four housing develop-
twining of ‘bottom-up’ and ‘top-down’ approaches in
ment projects in Norway and analyses participatory
the planning of this disadvantaged neighbourhood.
urban design and policies as a means of revealing
The planning profession is conceived in the tradition
the transforming characteristics and logic of partici-
of advocacy and action planners, and the active role
pation. Hatleskog traces how early egalitarian
of citizens’ participation in progressive institutional
impulses were exhausted in the stigmatisation of
change is identified. Stenberg frames participa-
housing cooperatives during 1980s-90s and in the
tive planning as complementary to representative
associated emergence of private home ownership
democracy and as a potentially successful channel
as a new promise of individual liberty. Questioning
for voicing dissatisfactions in districts with low elec-
the association of participation with the practice of
toral turnouts.
collecting individual ‘wish lists’, as manifested in the most recent case study, Hatleskog asks how partici-
Socrates Stratis outlines a project in Nicosia that
pation can become relevant today.
underlines the importance of context: the manner in which operations and practices that might seem
The review article section begins with a paper by
benign in one condition are actually conflictual
Eva Maria Hierzer and Philipp Markus Schörkhuber,
and provocative in another. Although the project
which uses Foucault’s argument to discuss partici-
in question failed to realise its desired objectives,
pation. Taking the Berlin IBA 84/87 project as its
Stratis asks whether this ‘failure’ has nevertheless
focus point, the paper studies municipal strategy
produced merits and values in the course of its
towards squatting and urban regeneration. During
unfolding.
the 1980s, uncooperative squatters, labelled as ‘bad’, were separated from ‘good’ squatters, who
Henriette Bier and Yeekee Ku introduce digital
were included in the planning process and were
urbanism and its participatory promise via a critical
later instrumental in the IBA’s subtle approach to
review of a number of recent projects in the field.
urban renewal. The case study exemplifies the
Fully versed in debates on parametric and genera-
authors‘ assertion that critique is the very infra-
tive design processes, Bier and Ku nonetheless
structure through which spaces and populations are
raise the question of the contrasting technocratic
governed.
and democratic tendencies of these methods.
5
Maroš Krivý closes this issue with a review of
‘A Retrospective View of Equity Planning. Cleveland
the 2013 Tallinn Architecture Biennale, highlighting
1969-1979’, Journal of the American Planning
the debates and discussions surrounding the ques-
Association, 48, 2 (Spring 1982), pp. 163-74;
tion of architecture as politics, which suggest that
John Friedman, Retracking America: A Theory of
the ‘aesthetic’ understanding of ‘good’ architecture
Transactive Planning (Garden City, NY: Anchor Press,
as autonomous of external constraints still has a
1973).
hold on some scholars and architects. Here, Tallin’s
4. Reyner Banham, Paul Barker, Peter Hall, Cedric Price,
specific condition as a ‘Westernised’, historic post-
‘Non-plan: An Experiment in Freedom’, New Society,
socialist city served to bring to the fore contradictory
13, 338 (20 March 1969), pp. 435-43; Giancarlo De
notions of ‘participation’.
Carlo, ‘Architecture’s Public’, in Architecture and Participation, ed. by Peter Blundell Jones, Doina
This issue of Footprint thus seeks to expand
Petrescu and Jeremy Till (London: Spon Press, 2005
the discussion of the ‘participatory turn’ and
[1969]), pp. 3-22; Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life
strengthen its auto-critical and reflective dimension.
of Great American Cities (New York: Random House,
Considering the dissipation of the earlier participa-
1993 [1961]).
tory movement, whether as a result of co-optation,
5. Paul Barker, ‘Non-Plan Revisited: or the Real Way
failure, or loss of interest, and noting the signifi-
Cities Grow. The Tenth Reyner Banham Memorial
cance and urgency of the questions that the ideal
Lecture’, Journal of Design History, 12, 2 (1999), pp.
of participation posits to urban designers and plan-
95-110.
ners, this issue and its articles are an attempt to
6. Boris Buden, Konec postkomunismu: Od společnosti
steer this loose movement in a direction that would
bez naděje k naději bez společnosti (Praha: Rybka,
benefit cities, their residents and society at large.
2013) [orig. Boris Buden, Zone des Übergangs: vom Ende des Postkommunismus (Frankfurt: Suhrkamp, 2009)].
Notes
7. April Carter, ‘Associative Democracy’, in Democratic
1. Nicholas Bourriaud, Relational Aesthetics (Dijon: Les
Theory Today: Challenges for the 21st Century, ed. by
Presses du Réel, 2002); Grant Kester, Conversation
April Carter and Geoffrey Stokes (Cambridge: Polity,
Pieces: Community and Communication in Modern Art
2002), pp.228-48; Paul Hirst, Associative Democracy:
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004); Maria
New Forms of Economic and Social Governance
Lind, ‘The Collaborative Turn’, in Taking the Matter into
(Cambridge: Polity, 1994); Joshua Cohen and Joel
Common Hands. Contemporary Art and Collaborative
Rogers, ‘Secondary Associations and Democratic
Practices, ed. by Johanna Billing, Maria Lind and
Governance’, Politics & Society, 20, 4 (December
Lars Nilsson (London: Black Dog Publishing, 2007),
1992); Jürgen Habermas, Between Facts and Norms
pp. 15-31; Lars Bang Larsen, ‘Social Aesthetics:
(Cambridge: Polity Press, 1996); John Dryzek,
11 Examples to Begin with, in the Light of Parallel
Deliberative Democracy and Beyond: Liberals, Critics,
History’, Afterall 1, Autumn/Winter 2000.
Contestations (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
2. Participation,
ed.
by
Claire
Bishop
(London:
2000); Democracy and Difference: Contesting the
Whitechapel, 2006); Claire Bishop, Artificial Hells:
Boundaries of the Political, ed. by Sayla Benhabib
Participatory Art and the Politics of Spectatorship
(Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1996);
(London: Verso, 2012).
Chantal Mouffe, The Return of the Political (London:
3. Paul Davidoff, ‘Advocacy and Pluralism in Planning’,
Verso, 1993); Chantal Mouffe, ‘For an Agonistic
Journal of the American Institute of Planners, 31, 4
Model of Democracy’ [2000], in Hegemony, Radical
(November 1965), pp. 331-38; Norman Krumholz,
Democracy and the Political, ed. by James Martin
6
(Oxon: Routledge, 2013), p. 191-206 ; Chantal Mouffe, ‘Radical Democracy or Liberal Democracy?’, in Radical Democracy: Identity, Citizenship, and the State, ed. by David Trend (New York; London: Routledge, 1996), pp. 19-26. 8. Margit Mayer, ‘Neoliberal Urbanization and the Politics of Contestation’, in Urban Asymmetries: Studies and Projects on Neoliberal Urbanization, ed. by T. Kaminer, H. Sohn & M. R. Duran (Rotterdam: 010 Publishers, 2011), pp. 46-61.
Biographies Maroš Krivý is Invited Professor of Urban Studies at the Faculty of Architecture, Estonian Academy of Arts. Tahl Kaminer is Lecturer in Architectural Design and Theory, Edinburgh School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, University of Edinburgh.
7
Aporia of Participatory Planning: Framing Local Action in the Entrepreneurial City Ryan Love
Since the 1970s, planning reforms have on the
has by now all but reduced the managerial role of
whole been responsive to local demands for greater
the city to that of its entrepreneurial partner.1
citizen involvement in politics, following decades of contentious renewal programmes that had
While there continue to remain notable variations
effectively ousted community voices from citywide
in terms of the actual content and implementation
decision-making processes. No longer, in conse-
of urban policy frameworks worldwide, there can
quence, are the affairs of municipalities unilaterally
be little doubt on the whole that decentralist and
brokered by that same circle of paternalists and
partnership strategies over the last three decades
highwaymen Jane Jacobs famously railed against a
have disproportionately set the tone of local lead-
half century ago. On the other hand, never has the
ership mandates - most noticeably in the Western
project of urban planning been so fractious as it is
territories.2 That the sovereignty of city-regional
today, as a result of the growing tensions and inef-
governments has generally foundered due to a
ficiencies caused by greater fragmentation of the
chronic persistence of budgetary deficits, structural
political process. As more actors make their way
unemployment and diminishing state support - to
onto the political stage, consensus becomes all the
say nothing of the recent waves of economic stag-
more difficult to achieve. Further contributing to this
nation imparted by still ongoing financial crises in
complexity has been a sharp concentration of capital
Europe and the US - is surely a reflection of the long-
investment in cities, which, over time, has led to a
standing (read: post-Keynesian) liberties enjoyed
veritable shift in the way local governments both
by speculative capital and its reckless, unpredict-
orient and orchestrate themselves. Today’s answer
able and uncontrollable path-trajectories. In such a
to top-down, state-led bureaucracy, it would seem,
context, indeed, it matters little whether local policy
is side-to-side, market-driven bureaucracy; which of
makers actively choose to articulate market-based
course begs the question as to how effective such
ideologies in order to solve current fiscal and regu-
horizontally dispersed management models can be
latory dilemmas, so far as in all cases they will still
in an environment marked simultaneously by the
be confronted by a deeply entrenched, ultracom-
rapid retrenchment of central government and the
petitive and crisis-prone operating environment.3
aggressive rebounding of private finance. What the
Cut off from all other conceivable revenue paths,
localist element in politics has no doubt won over
the only way forward would appear to consist on
the years in terms of achieving greater represen-
the one hand in a differential rolling-back of various
tation, democracy and transparency in matters of
public initiatives (i.e., collective redistribution and
governance, it has also arguably lost in terms of its
social welfare provision models) and on the other
capacity to protect these achievements in the face
hand in a rolling-out of new, capital-intensive growth
of an increasingly pervasive economic sector, which
strategies geared towards the total marketisation of
13
The Participatory Turn in Urbanism, Autumn 2013, pp. 7-20
8
city space and privatisation of municipal resources.4
interests, to converge in more or less concentrated fashion. It follows that the full remit of planning’s
A word on generalities
agency, while directly inclusive of local leadership
That a certain degree of abstraction is needed to
structures, is not by any means exclusive of other,
chart the vast institutional landscape in which cities
openly formative influences. This means, crucially,
operate, testifies to the extreme global exposure
that in addressing questions of consensus-building
local policy networks are now compelled to face. No
and decision-making in local city contexts one must
less compulsory for theory, alternatively, is the need
also examine how these dominant discursive proc-
to anticipate the constantly shifting character of this
esses intersect with existing hegemonic institutions
landscape - whose contours vary precisely to the
and power configurations. To speak of the agency
degree that they are historically, geographically and
of planning is thus also to speak of the wider set of
culturally embedded. In truth, it is no longer possible
agencies that play a direct facilitating role in shaping
or desirable to adopt a single, monolithic concept
current valuations of urban space. In many cities of
of ‘the city’, nor for that matter of ‘city planning’.
the industrialised West, for example, one finds a
Rather, in enlisting such terms it is understood that
greater significance accorded to the notion of the
we are here working less with ideal types than with
‘stakeholder’ as an effective category in local devel-
distinct varieties of a pervasive and enduring global
opment approval formats. Hence a large corporation
phenomenon - namely, the rationalised projec-
that owns property in the city centre, while legally
tion and institutionalised management of social
barred from participating as a citizen in the planning
and urban infrastructures. While the idea of plan-
process, is still considered a major stakeholder and
ning does suggest a certain ubiquity to the extent
so obtains a higher, even privileged, standing under
that it deploys a largely disciplinary narrative of the
that rubric.6
city, it is nonetheless significant that the ‘actually existing’ territorialised manifestations of this narra-
This distinction, between the contingent relativity
tive are unevenly constituted across space and in
of cities and the confluence of hegemonic logics
time. Accordingly the real historical-material base
that bind them, stands in our view as paramount.
of planning will differ depending on whether one is
For only at this conjuncture is it possible to ask
addressing North American, Western European or
whether the more salient features of what we are
Asian contexts.5
here calling urban entrepreneurialism - understood as the natural extension of market ideals, partner-
To the extent that modern planning regimes work
ships and competitive discipline to regimes of urban
toward an ideal of undistorted communication, some
management - do not owe themselves precisely to
form of rationalism must be said to inhere in each of
this deep collusion of political and economic impera-
its localised versions. Such a general rational insist-
tives at the rational-justificatory level. In what follows
ence, so far from being anything like a sovereign
we shall try to examine what becomes of local citi-
spirit or omnipresent logos, is what makes possible
zenship practices in such a context, beginning from
in practice the coming together of a loose group of
the standpoint of real structural factors intrinsic to
city-specific agencies - formed of various elected
modern regulatory forms and institutions - which,
officials, urban planners, policy makers, legal prac-
as we shall see, tend to project a permanent ‘blind
titioners, advisory experts, administrators and so
spot’ with respect to certain valuations and points
on - as well as what enables a broad set of spatially
of view - and ending with a summary of the new
dispersed practical acts, occurring at multiple
challenges facing localism in an era in which City
territorial levels and reflective of a wide variety of
Hall has all but lost its capacity to project a coherent
9
path for communities in the face of prevailing market forces.
Contemporary affirmations owing to the flexibility and dynamism of new planning regimes do not make the rule of their supervising bureaucra-
Incompatible discourses
cies any less strict. This holds especially true where
It is necessary to emphasize, in the first place, the
so-called subjective descriptions of the metropolis
role of legality in directing the terms of meaningful,
are concerned, in other words those accounts of
that is to say consequential, engagement in cities.
everyday urbanity in which the contingency of identi-
To the extent that the system of law lays the legisla-
ties is held as central. Examples of such a discursive
tive framework for processes of urban governance
orientation range from local phenomenologies of
and development to take place, every localised
place to ideologies of cultural heritage; from notions
act, in order to achieve political efficacy, must be
of performance and place-based art practices, to
carried out in strict conformity with this framework.
discourses of urban flanerie or psychogeography.
Thus a factor of formality is immediately implied by
Each of these specific modalities speaks to what
the notion of civic participation, vis-à-vis its subor-
Ben Highmore calls ‘the traces [or] remainders of
dination to instituted legal norms. This formalism
the overflowing unmanageability of the everyday’, or
ensures that legal accountability, not to say risk, is
again what John Roberts has defined as ‘the space
evenly and manageably spread across all sectors
where non-instrumental possibilities can be tested
of urban life, such that every act, every decision,
and defended.’7 Invariably such a trace/remainder
can be accounted for. The essence of planning
must elude the myopic outlook of planning, whose
lies precisely in this transfer of formality from one
predilection for procedure leaves it quite unable to
level, the rational-juridical, to another level, the daily
broach let alone comprehend such an epistemo-
concrete interactions of the city. Only to the extent
logical stance. Indeed whatever exists in the mode
that rational ends can be successfully translated
of the qualitative or experiential can carry but little
into material reality by way of their formalisation into
weight in the rational schematisations of planning.
discrete, administrative steps, can their actuality as
That such questions should resist any easy iden-
ends be secured. This suggests likewise that any
tification with the categories of management is no
individual form of conduct carried out in the public
doubt due to the impossibility of their being framed
sphere can be equally legitimised or de-legitimised
in strictly manageable terms.
depending on its degree of compatibility with the various legal mechanisms, that is to say, on its
This positivistic slant, and the one-sided evalu-
potential for rational-juridical integration, which in
ation it leads to, cannot but severely impede the
turn demands that an overall adjustment of forms
efficacy of local politics, if that politics is not already
of conduct take place - so as to meet the criteria for
disposed in advance to planning’s rational-admin-
compliance. Whatever end is to be expressed must
istrative outlook. Rather, the value of citizenship
bow to the predetermined categories that cover it; no
practices can only be undermined where insti-
expression outside of these categories is permitted,
tutional norms and procedures are found to set
if indeed the mandate of total accountability is to be
the terms of the discussion before it even starts.
fulfilled. What counts above all are those aspects of
Already we have seen that the essence of partici-
everyday existence that can, in the final analysis,
patory action - which is tied intrinsically to values of
be called to account. In this way planning aspires to
self-determination, place-bound identity and direct
a complete, determinate reflection of the built envi-
democracy - is ever at odds with the heteronomous,
ronment vis-à-vis its socio-legal projection.
already-instituted character of planning. As a result, the integration of forms of participation demands
10
that action conduce to reaction, that is, to passive,
appearance of being decidedly non-controversial.
procedural compliance. This, too, suggests that the desire for autonomy at the local level is already
Counterculture as index of immediacy
crucially compromised by its reflection at the insti-
We have just seen that questions involving subjec-
tuted level, a reflection that invariably entails a
tive concerns do not figure easily into the official
distortion. Owing to the explicit abstraction at work in
deliberations of planning, on account of the latter’s
every planning decision, participatory motives must
misapprehension of the former as a result of a
find themselves not only practically subordinated
deep, discursive divide. Instead, we find that there
to this logic, but tailored in advance to its expecta-
is a tendency on the part of planning to construe
tions. What is local, if it is to be communicated at
culture in terms of the official, organised event,
all, is compelled to be general. This ‘presumption of
whose controlled and pre-programmed character, to
equality,’ Peter Berger explains, is not simply a tech-
be sure, stands a world apart from the spontaneous
nical requirement of planning, but a basic axiom of
and improvisational practices of everyday, so-called
bureaucratic ethics; strictly speaking it is the basis
vernacular cultures. What’s more, the increasing
of its claim to legitimacy.8 By its own nature planning
focus on business and tourist users in many of
tends towards the production of abstract generali-
these administered events tends to diminish any
ties, even where it points to particularities.
local sense of ownership or involvement in them. As such they tend to give off the air of a highly medi-
While it is true to say that recent reforms to
ated proceeding, passively attended and actively
planning have afforded greater protection to
supervised. One may well be concerned, indeed,
localism, such efforts must find themselves system-
that culture’s consolidation at the official policy
atically disappointed as a result of the enduring
level threatens to erode what is in truth cultivated
universalism inscribed within planning’s objective-
about culture, so much as even the slightest deter-
procedural outlook. That planning seeks above all
mination ex supra should signal the transposition
to streamline the totality of events occurring within
of local customs into lawful conventions, of rituals
its jurisdiction, that is, to formalise them, so as to
into rules. Such a contradictory result is in fact
guarantee for each and every instance a maximum
found to obtain wherever culture and its adminis-
of certainty and a minimum of risk - this inborn
tration come to a head. One readily observes, for
tendency is itself seldom recognised as a potential
example, how the diversity inscribed in multicultur-
source of tension within the field of city-commu-
alism is continually checked by the singularity of the
nity interactions, even where consultation with the
liberal politico-institutional model that contains it,10
public is expressly encouraged. On the contrary,
or again how local valuations of cultural heritage
forms of concrete individuality are always tacitly
tend to belie the ‘rooted cosmopolitanism’ endorsed
expected to be translated into and made compatible
by global conservation mandates and doctrinal
with the anonymous terms deemed appropriate for
charters.11 Such familiar frictions testify to what
the bureaucratic universe.9 The practical effective-
Paul Ricoeur has called ‘the unfolding of a single
ness of planning is thus consolidated by the extent
experience of mankind,’ which makes necessary,
to which the totality of means and ends that it over-
on the one hand, the administration of local experi-
sees is freed in advance of all subjective, qualitative
ences ‘in order to make a decision possible,’ and
and contingent factors, thus paving the way for
on the other hand the organisation of discussions
general consensus at the political level - and more
‘in order that the largest possible number of men
importantly, a path for development which has the
can take part in this decision.’12 Bureaucracy, or the
11
rationalisation of power, for Ricoeur, is inextricably
forms of life - owing ostensibly to the inadequacy
tied to the universalisation of democracy. ‘No kind
of the latter’s offerings, which in any case usually
of criticism of technics will be able to counterbal-
carry a price tag - such a residuum or ‘alterna-
ance the absolutely positive benefit of the freedom
tive’ culture, far from being a noncommittal set of
from want and of the massive access to comfort.’13
diversions from the real world, indeed appears, at
And yet this rationalising tendency, at the same
least prior to its recuperation by the mainstream,
time, would seem to betray a contrary development,
to have much in common with the participatory
insofar as ‘the phenomenon of universalisation,
ethos. Whereas the former assigns centrality to the
while being an advancement of mankind, at the
idea of self-expression, the latter posits a need for
14
same time constitutes a sort of subtle destruction.’
self-determination. Both dispositions, however, are
Even Ricoeur does not deny the double-edged
effectively allied in terms of their refusal to accede
significance of rationalisation as it pertains to the
to the equalising presumptions demanded by the
organisation and institutionalisation of the cultural.
dominant discourse. For what is called ‘alternative’
What Marcuse calls the ‘irrational rest’ does well to
with respect to culture is no less than culture’s vital
epitomise what is at stake in this overreaching of
protest against compulsory integration, just as the
regulations into previously non-regulated sectors of
autonomous strand in localism opposes its own
social life.15 That there is in fact a manifest discon-
incorporation via planning’s community engage-
nect between the real spaces of culture and the
ment protocols. The relentlessness with which
rational space of planning, again points back to the
planning pursues the subsumption of both culture
supposition, stated earlier, that there is something
and community is thus matched by an equal and
intrinsic to cultural experience that leads the latter
opposite counterthrust to such initiatives.
to reject, unequivocally, the ‘one-dimensional’ logic of its organisation; that its very affinity with the mani-
Quality assurance
fold textures of everyday life should demand a strict
Quality from the standpoint of culture is something
partition be installed at their terminus, safeguarding
that must be opposed to all forms of standardi-
them as it were from being smoothed over.
sation, for standardisation is what denies any possibility for distinction. Yet this is precisely what
In his essay ‘Culture and Administration’,
the system of planning calls for, namely, that
Theodor Adorno speaks of the aporia that must
the notion of quality be recast as something that
constantly prevail between the absolute purpose of
approaches a universal checklist of equivalences.
the cultural and the absolute rationality of admin-
Quality thus conceived is to bow strictly to the order
istration.
Culture’s institutionalisation, for Adorno,
of technical criteria, which last encompasses every-
merely represents an ‘external affair by which it is
thing from design and production specifications,
subsumed rather than comprehended’. For culture
to performance-based protocols targeting areas of
to fend off the ever-present threat of subsumption,
utility, efficiency, and more recently, sustainability.
rather, it must continually adopt an oppositional
Here, too, planning aspires to a complete deter-
stance with respect to the status quo. As legitimate
mination of the practical field in order to gain a
culture is unable to fully capture what is specific to
maximum return on certainty. As concern for quality
culture, so must there always be a remainder, as the
resolves increasingly into the one-to-one fulfilling
index of individuality - or in Adorno’s language, the
of technical demands, however, questions aimed
nonidentical - which escapes all organised attempts
at raising a more profound awareness of quality
to assimilate it. Seemingly arising, then, as a general
become decidedly rare. Indeed the official disin-
expression of nonconformity with administered
terest met by citizens wherever they would aspire
16
17
12
in a public setting to challenge this kind of mana-
such details should combine to produce a set of
gerial outlook, suffices to ensure that such efforts,
place-specific norms, in the spirit of which, it is
where they cannot otherwise be reconciled with
suggested, new development will willingly partake.
the practico-technical paradigm, are either quietly
By way of compliance with these norms comes the
dismissed or quickly brought back into the realm of
expectation that within this manageable space the
the expedient. The resultant frustration of citizens in
sustainability of communities should be guaranteed
having their opinions systematically dismantled by
for the long haul.
a discourse geared to the demands of disinterested experts and/or interested speculators - who again,
From this perspective, what makes a place
by virtue of the eminent reasonableness of their
evidently boils down to its capacity to be recorded,
respective positions, find themselves automatically
described and classified, that is, on the basis of its
privileged by the pre-established platforms - means
manifest observable properties. Indeed, on closer
essentially that other avenues for activism must be
inspection we find that such a strategy bases itself
sought, lest ‘consultation’ become a euphemism for
on that same, positivist presumption that should
NIMBY-networking, and ‘quality’ synonymous with
see in names the perfect analogues of the things for
the simple raising of averages.
which they stand. Thus in place of a haptic understanding of specific spatial and/or material qualities,
It is clear that the ambiguity surrounding extra-
one finds a closed constellation of well-sounding
rational categories like ‘quality’ and ‘character’ does
statements, predicated unilaterally on the assump-
not sit well with the bureaucratic imperative for
tion that concrete things-in-themselves should be
complete, conceptual transparency. That planning
fully compatible with the descriptive codes that
should sooner be prompted to omit such language
contain them. Through this distillation of objec-
from its ambit than attempt to redefine it on its own
tivity into highly-ordered taxonomies, it follows that
terms, is naturally to be expected. One outcome of
whatever resists being made to order in this way is
such efforts to secure a ‘subjective fix’, as it were,
a fortiori cast out, that is, by the self-styling stric-
is the design guideline, whose function as a quasi-
tures of thought - which should call into existence
legal planning tool is to open a path to qualitative
only what can be safely assimilated to its concept.
questions - without, that is, endangering the empir-
Consequently only those place-features which may
ical foundation on which the whole apparatus rests.
be systematically isolated, tagged and filed away, are
As such the guideline serves as a vehicle for the
finally registered as character-defining - while those
grounding and legitimating of planning decisions
least amenable to formal designation are deemed
where these cannot otherwise claim an evidential or
unworthy of official recognition. What is encour-
justificatory basis for themselves. Here the under-
aged is not so much a direct, spontaneous dialogue
lying intention, above all, is to constitute a flexible,
with the city as rather a mechanical recitation of
discretionary strategy that provides a space for the
its forms and surfaces. Doubtless this explains the
reconciliation of local interests with larger functional
overwhelming presence of visual or image-based
and economic objectives. Scale, height, setbacks,
descriptors in the design guidelines.- as opposed
massing, proportions, materials, frontages, finishes,
to, say, tactile, emotive or experiential qualifications,
signage elements, sightlines, shadows, sun expo-
which should prove difficult if not impossible to pin
sure, etc. - all such localised, area-based indicators
down categorically. Anything that is found to elude
are cited by planning as constitutive of the general
the fixity of the definition should rather be hard
character of a particular locale or neighbourhood,
pressed to find a spot on the bureaucrat’s checklist.
its ‘charm’ and ‘sense of identity’. Taken together
That planning should ever deign to accommodate
13
such unruliness, is a prospect whose first condi-
planning today, on the contrary, proffers in the name
tion would be to sacrifice the safety of a sign for
of placemaking seldom amounts to anything more
the indeterminacy of an impression - a compromise
than a declaration of goodwill, one that is filled to
surely none of its representatives should be willing
the brim with enthusiasm but only infrequently lives
to entertain.
up to the language. Here the logic of the guideline fundamentally misguides by insisting that compat-
On this point Bernardo Secchi offers the
ibility with context can be achieved via a simple and
counter-speculation, presumably playing devil’s
faithful reshuffling of ‘built form elements’ - as if,
advocate, that ‘perhaps there is something which
paraphrasing Secchi, the mere intention to stay true
links this effort to speak of the multiplicity of the
to a place were proof positive of its practical effect.
real, preventing it from being illuminated by a rule of order, a theory, a narrative, to the idea of social
Legitimacy outsourced
fragmentation in which we are immersed.’18 But if to
As to the perceived quality of the built environ-
speak for the real means in actuality abbreviating
ment - quite
it, that is, insulating or bracketing the concrete from
aspect - neither the policy statements nor the
all of its sensory and material richness, just for the
guidelines, it is true, can be said to offer much in the
sake of rendering it intelligible - this effort would
way of driving meaningful dialogue on the subject.
then be, at best, wishful thinking; at worst, self-
Thus in view of these limitations planning must look
conscious deceit. As it stands, recent attempts to
to other sources for prima facie justificatory support.
enrich the techniques of planning by introducing still
Here we meet the figure of the design advisor-
more classifications, more fine-grained analyses,
expert, whose role in the development process is to
more detailed descriptions - far from steering us out
provide an authoritative voice for planning where it
of the dilemma, can only lead to our further entrap-
is otherwise not qualified to speak. That the rational-
ment. As Secchi later clarifies:
istic tenor of planning should preclude it from having
19
apart
from
its
practico-technical
a say where non-rational questions persist, does not Few are aware of the gaps which a map, a table, a
stop it from deferring to the expertise of those who
drawing, a regulatory text, no matter how they are
have special currency in such matters. To this end
constructed, leave between the intentions and prac-
the advisory panel (which itself stands as a quasi-
tices of those administrators or citizens who observe
authoritative body comprised of architects and other
them; of the difficulties involved in filling a space with
institutionally recognised professionals) is tasked
words or images which are inevitably ambiguous and
with mediating, among other things, the disorderly
charged with preconceived judgments.
divide between aesthetics and technics. As plan-
20
ning’s proxy in this regard, the panel proceeds While one is advised never to stand in the way of
from an aesthetic point of view to assess the merits
progress, one is also all too painfully aware that not
and/or demerits of a given design proposal in
all change constitutes an advance. To the extent that
purportedly qualitative terms. Evidently, questions
the singularity of place is nullified by its reflection in
concerning the transformation of the public realm
description, so too does the ideology of growth come
are here offered a place in which to be raised and
to reflect little more than an accumulation of stereo-
recognised in an official capacity.
types. Any attempt to thus foster growth ‘in the spirit of’ a place, can only miss the mark of that place
The ideological basis of this strategy is clear
so long as the inner motivation for change remains
enough: by way of affiliation with the discourse of
squarely at the mercy of abstract analytics. What
trained expertise, aesthetic judgements are not only
14
given to assume an air of authority, but the matter-
prevailing attitudes from inside the system is to find
of-factness of a technical appraisal. As Pierre
one’s efforts consistently blocked by the tacit code
Bourdieu remarks, the most disinterested gaze ‘has
of expectations that should maintain the existence of
the privilege of appearing to be the natural one.
’21
the status quo at any cost. This expectation to adjust
Through this subtle slant, official debate over quality
one’s values, merely for the sake of passing the
translates into more manageable considerations of
test of the panel, leads to a state of affairs in which
‘appropriateness’ - supervised by those select few
the lowest common denominator in culture - the
who would purport to stand above the commons
aesthetic average, as it were - is ironically declared
while speaking in its name. Far from enacting a medi-
its most advanced representative. ‘By producing for
ation of aesthetics and technics, the advisory panel
a stereotype, one ends up […] fabricating a stere-
rather ensures their proper conflation. This insight
otype, which explains the rampant academicism
is confirmed by the panel’s disavowal of anything
of contemporary work, dissimulated as it is behind
that deviates from mainstream practice, ostensibly
apparent formal diversity’ (Buren).23 At the same
to show its allegiance with the public interest. By
time the manifest partiality concealed beneath the
canonising the status quo in this way, it follows that
veil of professionalism is never itself put to the test.
any practice running contrary or peripheral to the
For the critical voice of the commons cannot but fall
official line must not only find itself deprioritised as
on deaf ears if it, lacking all manner of credentials,
regards its status, but barred in toto from recogni-
should ever deign to advise the advisors.
tion. This structural oversight guarantees that the possibility of establishing a counterposition with
Returning to Adorno’s analysis, we learn that
respect to the prevailing standard is safely managed
‘the judgement of an expert remains a judgement
at the source.22 Only those attributes that can rather
for experts and as such ignores the community
be assimilated to the accepted canons, for which
from which […] public institutions receive their
the panel stands as impartial arbiter, are supposed
mandate’.24 This statement rings no less true for
in the final analysis to be valid. This, too, has the
qualitative judgements than it does for quantitative
effect of inhibiting critique from the outset - ‘criti-
ones. The presumption of equality alluded to earlier
cism’ having been strictly identified as an internal
here returns in a subjectively mediated form: what
affair for the panellists to sort out. Popular protest,
counts as valid from the prized standpoint of the
where it fails to abide by the higher standards of
advisory panel is, simply by virtue of its authoritative
the professional, is by pain of contrast made to look
weight, made valid for one and all. Just as the deal-
frivolous - dismissed either as ill-informed, layper-
er’s function in art circles is to commodify the work of
sons’ opinion, or else as subjective, irrational bias.
art, thus priming it for exchange, so too is the design
The aesthetic authority of the panel, whose ‘quasi-
expert’s prime function to generate the conditions
feudal’ status (Bourdieu) is secured solely and
for consensus in matters potentially fraught with
effortlessly through the force of its credentials, is
contention, to wit, aesthetics. Where the practical
as such beyond scrutiny; irrational protest cannot
inconvenience posed by a plurality of voices would
win so long as it is pitted against the rationality of
otherwise threaten to hinder the smooth course of
experts. On the contrary, it is by virtue of the profes-
progress, experts must be brought in to bridge the
sional qualification that a single point of view is
gap. From the recognition, therefore, that taste is
rightfully elevated to the status of an absolute refer-
still in need of general management - if only for the
ence point. Shorn of any air of arbitrariness, of mere
sake of streamlining efficiency - it becomes some-
opinion, the panel’s frame of reference is per se
thing of an open question whether today what we
identified with pure competence. Thus to challenge
are seeing in the form of the design advisory panel,
15
by whose vested authority a spectacularly shallow
contradiction. To be sure, the grassroots uprisings
vision of building culture is touted as if it were the
in the 1960s and 1970s, on which the present-day
pinnacle of urban placemaking, is not in fact simply
ideology of participation is founded, had always
a soft version of the hard paternalism of previous
proceeded in step with a radical critique of institu-
planning regimes.
tions, the reasons for which we have attempted to flesh out in the preceding sections of this essay.
It is as significant as it is telling that the cultural
Once formally integrated into the system, however,
pretentions of the design expert are not open to
the original anti-establishment imperative could
examination in the context of public discussions.
no longer be sustained in practice, insofar as the
On the contrary, it remains something of an unsaid
bureaucratic element in society had by no means
premise that the standpoint of the design expert
withered away, as was the revolutionary expecta-
shall enjoy an instant and irreproachable authority
tion, but had actually expanded and intensified. As it
over the ordinary perceptions of those actually
stands currently, the reality of civic participation finds
residing and labouring in communities. To turn such
itself caught in a tangle of paradoxes as a result of
authority on its head, however, would be in effect
its status as an unfinished project. Urban activists
to liquidate the stock from which the design expert
in the 1960s and 1970s could hardly in retrospect
draws her currency, so far as this last proceeds
have anticipated the later cycles of institutional
always from a ‘specially delimited territory in which
recuperation that were to follow the earlier reformist
everything goes without saying and nothing needs
victories, nor could they have readily foreseen the
to be justified.’ Rather, the naturalness with which
long period of political and economic retrenchment
the design expert operates testifies to the inter-
that, culminating in neoliberalism, would eventually
nalisation of her received ideas and attitudes. Far
lead to the undermining of local political platforms
from rewarding innovation, she merely reinforces
by the turn of the century.
25
orthodoxy by turning to self-sustaining, tried-andtested formulae for success. Such formulae stand,
No longer as a result do the old mantras of self-
as it were, ‘as instances of a legitimation that has
liberation and self-management carry an effective
congealed and become unobtrusive’. As such the
purchase on the municipal stage, for in recent
expert is ‘able to forgo external justifications and
years the socioeconomic status of the participatory
thus give off the heavy scent of immanence, in
class has gone through a veritable sea-change.
which the business of art is so fond of steeping.’
26
In place of an idealism foregrounded by those the
Just as the technicians of planning seek practical
likes of Jane Jacobs, we now find the exigencies
reasons for their recommendations, so do design
of a micro-local reactionary politics, or so-called
experts take to blogs and glossy magazines for
NIMBYism, vying for centre spot on the community
theirs. That the appraisal of the expert should ever
consultation platform. That resistance to change
itself become the object of public scrutiny, however,
should now come to be defined just as much by
is not something that one would expect to find on
shared prejudices and mutual concern for prop-
the advisory meeting agenda anytime soon, lest the
erty, than by, let us say, an emotional attachment
arbitrariness announced by the prognosis immedi-
to place, is one of the key consequences of this
ately cast suspicion on the whole affair.
gradual overturning of participatory motives since the 1970s. While commitment to place still consti-
Insider city
tutes one of the major reasons for local opposition,
We have seen that the project of participatory
this sentiment remains but a faint echo of earlier
politics has seldom enjoyed an existence free of
grassroots movements, whose group solidarity and
16
coherence in protest, it is true, owed just as much
for the further consolidation of the local status quo.
to the historical failure of past planning models as it did to the personal resilience of its heroes. (Indeed
There can be little doubt that the systematic
the capacity of an out-of-touch modernist planning
incorporation of radical forms of participatory action
ideology to serve as a negative rallying point for
since the 1970s owes itself, at least in part, to the
communities should not be underestimated in this
equally pervasive phenomenon of urban gentrifi-
context.) Nevertheless, the potential for said place-
cation, through which the gradual buying up and
values to galvanise opposition by way of emotional
pricing out of low-rent, low-density urban lands has,
resonance seems in recent years to have lost much
over time, reconstituted the very social and polit-
of its political stock. Where such stimulus does gain
ical fabric of cities. Here, too, we find that existing
ground, it is generally short-lived on account of its
micro-cultures operating at a subaltern level are
ill-fated subjectiveness, a problem we have already
constantly under threat of being ousted by their
discussed at length. The charge of idealism that
own incubating activities. Recent sociological and
today is frequently ascribed to such motives - that
geographic studies confirming the steady polari-
is, on account of their apparent lack of rational or
sation of income levels in so-called world cities
practical incentives - is of course what leads to their
would appear to corroborate this general, city-
current ideological sidelining as ill-informed, knee-
wide tipping of the scales, insofar as an uneven
jerk reactions, legally irrelevant and hence unworthy
distribution of wealth across the territory should
of serious consideration. Consequently the divided
mean that individual participatory motives - that
status of public participation today - divided, that is,
is, the personal incentives for becoming politically
between a protectionist politics on the one hand and
engaged - should, too, find themselves unevenly
a progressive social activism on the other - leaves
represented across the map, as a result of size-
very little middle ground for alternative notions of
able disparities in the socioeconomic landscape.27
collective resistance, particularly as they stand to
That the field of action in municipal politics should
bear on aesthetic and cultural concerns. Indeed,
become less tied to public-emancipatory concerns
one of the greatest merits of the 1960s and 1970s
and more to the preservation of private interests, is
critique was its ability to incorporate subjective,
not in itself surprising, however, if one takes pause
qualitative and contingent demands into an overall
to consider the general postwar tendency that
revolutionary-utopian perspective. By contrast, the
would see the old interventionist system of checks
ideological dislocation of the meaning of public
and balances eroded in direct proportion as state
participation that we are witnessing today should
executive powers over commerce and industry
ostensibly pose serious challenges for those seeking
start to wane. In this sense it becomes possible
to defend a notion of quality in the face of culture’s
to see the recent private recoupment of participa-
current capitulation to market mechanisms under
tory action as the local, concrete expression of a
an increasingly cash-strapped and overburdened
more general and diffuse realignment of political-
City Hall. At the same time, the partial recuperation
economic forces. Subsequently the structure of
of the participatory model by an ultra-conservative
citizen engagement under the current neoliberal
constituency of homeowners at once signals a turn-
arrangement must presuppose nothing short of
around of its earlier status as a radical rallying point
a total systemwide reset, in which local lobbyists
for local liberators - to such an extent, indeed, that
are encouraged to exchange old notions of self-
in place of promoting the public consultation plat-
initiation for new notions of self-interest. Less a civil
form as a vehicle for grassroots innovations of all
disobedient than a committed stakeholder, today’s
kinds, we now find it increasingly coopted as a tool
participant finds himself ever ironically in league
17
with the totalising presumptions of planning - to
held at bay. What we have earlier described as a
such an unprecedented degree, in fact, that what
counterposition, meanwhile, readily acknowledges
once proved an absolute hindrance to the expres-
the alterity that keeps it from comfortably being
sion of singular values now stands as their perfect
other within the system, and resets itself accord-
ideological complement.
ingly. Far from surrendering itself to the presumption of equality that should compromise its source of
Local action as nonintegrative praxis
identity - such a position strives instead to actuate
The current entrepreneurial climate in cities has
its own presumption of singularity, that is, on the
made it clear that the discursive terrain on which
very ground of its adversary. By way of an opposi-
the formation of local identities is given to play out
tional incursion into the dominant discursive space
is, in actuality, far from neutral. Likewise it has been
of the city,30 participatory praxis conceived as coun-
shown that the official celebration of pluralism in
terposition aims at nothing less than the constitution
‘world-class’ city economies is by no means free
of a new institution, a new hegemony - one that
of hegemonic influence. We have argued that it is
indeed fixes the centre of agency nowhere but in
not just the perpetual unevenness of social rela-
itself. Where the current orthodoxy should preclude
tions on the playing field but the active restrictions
by way of arbitrary self-privilege the appearance
arising from the ‘rules of the game,’ that continue
of any radical alternative envisioning of the city, it
to impede the formation of an alternative participa-
behoves such praxis to challenge this standard by
tory politics, not to say public sphere, which would
continually heeding the critical-oppositional element
stay true to itself only to the degree that it pursues
within itself.
‘its own autonomous line of force, its own specific trajectory, which is also its meaning.’28 Extending the democratic reach of these rules, on the contrary,
* Editors’ comment: Against our standard editorial
should prove purposeful only where greater social
practice and grammatical revision suggestions to
or economic integration is seen in the first place as
the author, the paper has been retained precisely as
a worthy political pursuit - where localist arguments,
submitted due to insistence of the author.
in other words, find themselves perfectly amenable to discursive translation so far as they are practically and positively intended at their core.29 Such a
Notes
positive expansion of the existing lines of commu-
1. David
Harvey,
‘From
Managerialism
to
nication between distinct political subjectivities,
Entrepreneurialism: The Transformation of Urban
however, can be of little use where notions of nonin-
Governance in Late Capitalism,’ in Geografiska
tegration and noninstrumentality are in fact the
Annaler, Series B: Human Geography, 71, 1 (1989),
intended objects of a given social subject - objects
pp. 3-17. For a more recent discussion on the
formed, that is, in a spirit of wilful spontaneity and
subject see Kevin Ward, ‘Entrepreneurial Urbanism,
critical contestation (on the part of a counterculture
Policy Tourism and the Making Mobile of Policies,’
towards a hegemonic order, for example). Here insti-
in The New Blackwell Companion to the City, eds.
tutional integration can no more serve as an end for
Bridge & Watson (West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell,
this subjectivity than open dialogue can reconcile
2011), pp. 726-34; and Tim Hall & Bob Jessop, The
the contradictions that ab ovo gave rise to it. For a
Entrepreneurial City: Geographies of Politics, Regime
radical participatory politics to remain viable, on the
and Representation (Chicester: John Wiley & Sons:
contrary, such a moment of integration or recuperation by a dominant exteriority must perpetually be
1998), esp. pp. 77-102. 2. Paul Kantor, ‘City Futures: Politics, Economic Crisis,
18
and the American Model,’ in Urban Research and Practice, 3, 1 (2010), esp. p. 2.
7. Ben Highmore, in Everyday Life and Cultural Theory: An Introduction (London and New York: Routledge,
3. Nik Theodore, Jamie Peck and Neil Brenner,
2002), p. 26, cited in John Roberts, Philosophizing the
‘Neoliberal Urbanism: Cities and the Rule of Markets,’
Everyday (London and Ann Arbor: Pluto Press, 2006),
in The New Blackwell Companion to the City, eds.
p. 2.
(West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011), esp. pp. 16-24. See also Kantor, Op. cit., p. 6.
8. Peter Berger, The Homeless Mind (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1973), p. 53.
4. Relevant here are the North American case studies
9. Ibid., p. 48.
found in Stefan Kipfer & Roger Keil, ‘Toronto, Inc?
10. Brian Barry, ‘The Muddles of Multiculturalism,’ in New
Planning the Competitive City in the New Toronto,’
Left Review 8 (Mar/Apr 2001), pp. 49-71. See also
in Antipode, 34, 2 (2002), pp. 227-64; Tim Chapin,
Bhikhu Parekh, Rethinking Multiculturalism: Cultural
‘Beyond the Entrepreneurial City: Municipal Capitalism
Diversity and Political Theory (London/Cambridge, MA
in San Diego,’ in Journal of Urban Affairs, 24, 5 (2002),
2000).
pp. 565-81; and Nik Theodore and Neil Brenner, eds.,
11. Rob Lennox, A Charter for Cultural Internationalism:
Spaces of Neoliberalism (London: Blackwell, 2002).
What are the Limits of a Cosmopolitan Approach to
For Western European examples see Philip Booth,
UNESCO’s World Heritage (University of London/
‘Partnerships and Networks: The Governance of
York, MA 2011), pp. 15-28.
Urban Regeneration in Britain,’ in Journal of Housing
12. Paul Ricoeur, ‘Universal Civilization and National
and the Built Environment, 20 (2005), pp. 257-69; and
Cultures,’ in History and Truth (Evanston: Northwestern
Falleth, Hanssen & Saglie, ‘Challenges to Democracy
University Press, 1965), p. 273.
in Market-Oriented Urban Planning in Norway,’ in
13. Ibid., p. 275.
European Planning Studies, 18, 5 (2010), pp. 737-53.
14. Ibid., pp. 276-77.
See also Paul Kantor & H.V. Savitch, Cities in the
15. Herbert Marcuse, One Dimensional Man (Boston:
International Marketplace: The Political Economy of
Beacon Press Books, 1964), p. 99.
Urban Development in North America and Western
16. Theodor Adorno, ‘Culture and Administration,’ in The
Europe (Princeton: Princeton University Press: 2002).
Culture Industry, trans. by Wes Blomster (London,
For exemplary case studies of the Asian experi-
New York: Routledge, 2004 [1978]), p. 113.
ence see Shenjing He, ‘China’s Emerging Neoliberal
17. Ibid., p. 112.
Urbanism: Perspectives from Urban Redevelopment,’
18. Bernardo
in Antipode, 41, 2 (2009), pp. 282-304; Bob Jessop
Secchi,
‘Urbanistica
Descrittiva,’
in
Casabella 588 (Mar 1992), p. 61.
& Ngai-Ling Sum, ‘An entrepreneurial city in action:
19. The irony of the present situation is well captured
Hong Kong’s emerging strategies in and for (inter)
by the phrase ‘flexible standard,’ which, inasmuch
urban competition,’ in Urban Studies, 12 (2000),
as it allows a certain element of personal discretion
pp. 287-313; and T.C. Chang, ‘Renaissance Revisited:
into planning, pushes the bureaucratic imperative
Singapore as a Global City for the Arts,’ in International
of impersonality to its breaking point. Interestingly,
Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 24, 4 (2000),
however, it also points to the essential arbitrariness
pp. 818-31.
of the (law-like) standard. If a degree of variation turns
5. Gary Bridge and Sophie Watson, ‘Reflections on
out to have been possible all along, one is able to then
Materialities,’ in The New Blackwell Companion to the
question the relevance of that regulation, and perhaps
City, eds. (West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011), p. 8. 6. Mark
Purcell,
Communicative
‘Resisting Planning
or
Neoliberalization: Counter-Hegemonic
Movements?’ in Planning Theory 8, 2 (2009), p. 157.
even test its cultural-ideological assumptions. 20. Theodor Adorno, ‘Culture and Administration’, p. 62. 21. Pierre Bourdieu, Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste, trans. Richard Nice (Harvard
19
University Press, 1984), p. 56. 22. One thinks in particular of so-called alternative
of Planning and Education Research 19, 4 (2000), pp. 369-77.
spaces, or the spaces of everyday urbanism, in which
30. Most pertinent to this idea are James Holston’s notes
the sphere of the banal or outmoded, for example,
on ‘insurgent citizenship’ in the context of the global
is appropriated in a deliberate spirit of contestation.
south; see his Insurgent Citizenship: Disjunctions
It is significant that this conferral of aesthetic status
of Democracy and Modernity in Brazil (New Jersey:
onto sites or objects presumed ordinary or worthless
Princeton University Press, 2008), esp. pp. 309-13.
should stand in conscious opposition to the sphere
Similar notions of the political as counter-hegemonic
of the novel and extraordinary, in other words to
struggle may also be found in Jacques Rancière,
the dominant logic of the official public realm. If, as
Dissensus: On Politics and Aesthetics (London:
Bourdieu suggests, all taste ‘classifies the classifier,’
Continuum, 2010); and in Ernesto Laclau and Chantal
then the various symbolic struggles effecting between
Mouffe, ‘Preface to the Second Edition,’ in Hegemony
disparate positions and identities cannot possibly find
and Socialist Strategy (New York: Verso, 2000), vii-xix.
a non-partisan forum in planning, where the institution of privilege decides in advance which values are to be emphasised and which are to be overlooked.
Biography
23. Daniel Buren, ‘The Function of the Studio,’ in
Ryan Love is an architect and writer based in Toronto,
Institutional Critique: An Anthology of Artists’ Writings,
Canada. He completed his MArch at the University of
eds. Alberro and Stinson (Cambridge, Mass: MIT
Toronto after receiving a BA in philosophy. Among his
Press, 2011), p. 115.
research interests are the cultural dimensions of globali-
24. Op. cit., p. 128.
sation, modernisation and technics. As an architect he is
25. Diedrich Diederichsen, On (Surplus) Value in Art
currently engaged in the areas of adaptive-reuse, heritage
(Berlin: Steinberg Press, 2008), p. 29. 26. Ibid. 27. See, for example, Alexander J. Reichl, ‘Rethinking the Dual City,’ in Urban Affairs Review, 42, 5 (2007), pp. 659-87. See also Hamnett & Cross, ‘Social Polarisation in Global Cities: Theory and Evidence,’ in Urban Studies, 21 (1994), pp. 389-405. For a wider perspective see Sassia Sassen, The Global City (Princeton University Press, 1991), esp. pp. 193-320. 28. Frederic Jameson, ‘On Negt and Kluge,’ in October 46 (Autumn, 1988), p. 159. 29. The deliberative or communicative planning paradigm, which in many respects is indebted to the Habermasian theory of communicative action, stands as a perfect example of such a fully integrative, dialogue-based planning approach. In recent years this model has rightly come under scrutiny for its inability to effectively withstand and counter neoliberal hegemonic incursions in the public sphere. See for example Mark Purcell, Op cit., pp. 140-165; and Margo Huxley, ‘The Limits of Communicative Planning’ in Journal
conservation and community self-build.
20
21
An Anthropology of Urbanism: How People Make Places (and What Designers and Planners Might Learn from It) Brooke D. Wortham-Galvin
When subject matter is forced to fit into preconceived
are not exact synonyms. This essay will use the
patterns, there can be no freshness of vision.
term ‘participatory urbanism’ to discuss how ordi-
(Edward Weston)
nary people are engaged in making place, and how designers and planners might learn from it.
Introduction The July 2013 edition of Architect magazine
This discussion of participatory urbanism will
featured an article entitled ‘Newest Urbanism’.
describe the context from which it emerged in
In their word play on what design praxis might
the United States, define the term and its current
succeed the popular, late twentieth-century New
manifestation, and describe an early example of
Urbanism movement in the United States, Architect
participatory urbanism seeded by digital tools, in
introduced to the uninitiated the concept of tactical
order to raise questions about the role of partici-
urbanism. Their narrative rooted the contempo-
patory urbanism in the making of place in the
rary origins of tactical urbanism in 2005, with the
twenty-first century.
transformation of a parking space into a small park in San Francisco by the firm Rebar. Defining
The city by design
tactical urbanism as ‘temporary, cheap, and usually
At the start of the twentieth century in the United
grassroots interventions – including so-called guer-
States, urban design, under the aegis of the City
rilla gardens, pop-up parks, food carts, and ‘open
Beautiful movement, focused its efforts on the city’s
streets’ projects – that are designed to improve city
aesthetics and infrastructure. Daniel Burnham’s
life on a block-by-block, street-by-street basis’, the
Plan of Chicago (1909) memorialised his rallying
article claims that it took this approach to shaping
cry ‘make no little plans’ as it undertook to provide
the city less than a decade to mainstream into the
a monumental core framework for Chicago. The
practices of U.S. cities and firms alike.1
graphics of the Plan revealed his interest: the drawings focused their detail and energy on significant
While Architect used the term ‘tactical urbanism’
landmarks, whether boulevards or civic buildings.
to characterise this effort (borrowing it from the
The rest of the city, where people spend most of
Street Plans Collaborative and their guidebook
their time living and working, was rendered in poche,
Tactical Urbanism 2: Short-Term Action, Long
disappearing into a subtly muted background. In
Term Change), other terms abound: participa-
fact, in the case of the Burnham-influenced McMillan
tory urbanism, open-source urbanism, pop-up
Commission Plan for Washington D.C. (1901), the
urbanism, minor urbanism, guerrilla urbanism, city
drawings cropped out the extent of the city, focusing
repair, or DIY urbanism. The elision of these terms
solely on the monumental core. It was the federal
and their definitions does contain overlap, but they
and symbolic city they were designing: an urban
2
13
The Participatory Turn in Urbanism, Autumn 2013, pp. 21-40
22
monument to democracy. Left out of the drawings
resultant focus on surface and skin, in the name of
was the metropolitan city: the District of Columbia
newer freedoms for the twenty-first century global
as a lived experience.
city.7 Despite their varied aims and methodologies, both focus primarily on formal and spatial manipu-
In the post-World War II environment, concerned by the modernist-influenced tabula rasa approach
lations in order to create (or dismantle) the public realm that we understand as the city.
to urban renewal, urban design scholars and architects, such as Colin Rowe, Fred Koetter, Léon Krier
Despite the conviction of both New and Post
and Rob Krier, argued for a form-driven method-
Urbanism in their formally-driven design method-
ology that would shape the city into a sequence
ologies, it is difficult to ascertain what ‘public’ really
of public forms and spaces that were distinct and
means in the context of the increasing privatisation,
memorable when set in contrast to the private
globalisation, digitisation and commercialisation of
realm.3 Conventions such as figure/ground, devel-
urban space. The term ‘public’ is invoked often and
oped from Giambattista Nolli’s La Pianta Grande di
easily within the design disciplines, and has been
Roma (1748), were used to render the legibility of
naturalised to assume that its definition is universal.
the public space as a figure in the ground, and the
The designed city is assumed to be a public space,
interconnectedness of this space with the streets.4
but what precisely does that mean? It is certainly
Such conventions became the architect’s criteria
more than the mere spatial circumscription of a town
of well-conceived public space. This plan-based
square or piazza. By defining space as ‘public’, what
approach, while representing a radical rethinking of
are we referring to? Ownership? If so, how does a
city design during the1960s-70s American renewal-
place like Times Square fit this definition? Even
cum-destruction period, has now become a part of
though most of the land that constitutes the space
the canon. Its ubiquity among urban design firms no
of Times Square is, indeed, owned by the city and
longer represents a hypothesis or theoretical spec-
is therefore ‘public’ terrain, the space is not publicly
ulation about the use of normative types and the
managed. All the structures that define the space
figure/ground, but has been codified into contem-
are controlled by private interests, and the space
porary practice and amplified by such phrases and
itself is dominated by commercial messages and
practices as design guidelines, urban and architec-
corporate slogans rather than a socio-cultural iden-
tural regulations and pattern books.5
tity. In this context, it is difficult to distinguish Times Square, the Vegas Strip or Piazza della Rotunda
Douglas Kelbaugh’s adroit analysis of later twen-
from the shopping mall, which is completely
tieth and early twenty-first century urban praxis
privately owned and controlled. Does ‘public’ refer
in the United States (and as exported globally)
to activities? Ironically, in many (sub)urban places
assesses New Urbanism as ‘an explicit combina-
it is the shopping mall that has become the new
tion of noble ends and practical means’ in contrast
forum, playing host to a myriad of ‘public’ activities
to Post Urbanism’s ‘argument that shared values
that include senior citizens taking group walks in the
or metanarratives are no longer possible in a world
morning, girl scout sing-alongs, flu shot clinics, job
increasingly fragmented […]’. The former engages
fairs, and teenagers working hard at doing nothing.
historical precedents, employs typology, and is
Is the public to be found, then, not only in a phys-
stylistically neo-traditional (despite protestations of
ical circumscription but also in a set of activities
stylistic inclusion, this is the as-built reality of New
that reinforce community and civic identity, and are
Urbanism), while the latter manipulates topology
therefore culturally conceived as public?8
6
‘without formal orthodoxies or principles’, with a
Given that the physical and socio-cultural have
23
become inextricably intertwined in defining the
Many of these activities involve revising or
public, participatory urbanism is useful in unravel-
reinterpreting existing infrastructures for alternative
ling that knot. Even more so, since what is missing
purposes, with a sense of socio-political agency
from synoptic accounts of the plurality of urban
underlying the action. They operate outside offi-
design mythologies in action at the turn of the
cially sanctioned structures as they temporarily
twenty-first century in the United States, is a discus-
claim public or private infrastructures for protest or
sion of participatory urbanism.9
other cultural practices. While these projects are communal, hands-on and sometimes critical, they
Participatory Urbanism
are ephemeral additions to the built environment,
Conversations about participatory urbanism in the
not permanent ones. They eschew the slow moving
past decade are often framed by unsanctioned
and often costly bureaucracies of professionalised
efforts and/or by the temporary. Tactical urbanism,
urbanism (proffered by planners, architects, land-
as defined by the Street Plans Collaborative,
scape architects, preservationists and their ilk),
features short-term realistic actions, the develop-
for flexibility, rapidity, dynamisms, and what Kelli
ment of social capital, a focus on the local, and a
Anderson terms ‘disruptive wonder’ or I call ‘making
phased approach to permanent change. As Mike
the familiar strange’.12 They seek to disrupt natural-
Lydon notes:
ised assumptions and defy conventions about how and/or where we live. In this version of participatory
When you’re yard bombing something, it’s a really
urbanism, the city is seen as a (public) democratic
cool and interesting piece of public art and it can
process, not a (private) consumable product.
have some social and political commentary that goes along with it, but the intent generally is not to create a
The difference, as Lydon notes, is that some
longer-term physical change. Most of the things that
of these activities, such as yarn, chair or weed
we include in the guide generally are aiming at doing
bombing, ad busting, and guerrilla gardening, fall
something larger. They’re not just for the sake of doing
more into the vein of performance art and provo-
it. And of course in a lot of ways, to make that work,
cation than occurring with an eye to permanence.13
you need to have whatever you’re doing to become
These often illegal works are proffered to provoke
sanctioned or supported, either with funding or with
conversation for a day, but once out of sight are
being allowed by the municipality.10
often out of mind. At the other end of the spectrum, food trucks, pop-up retail, and Street Seats are
The distinction Lydon makes is an important parsing
ways for commercial enterprises to make private,
of the various participatory urbanism efforts. Activities
entrepreneurial incursions into the city (whether
such as guerrilla gardening, weed bombing, chair
selling food or jewellery for personal profit, or
bombing, yarn bombing, ad busting, camps, food
designing outside café seating in a former parking
trucks, pop-up town halls, Depave, PARK(ing) Day,
space as Portland’s Street Seats process encour-
parklets, Street Seats, Open Streets, Build a Better
ages). Somewhere in the middle of these examples
Block and Parkways get merged together with no
are those activities that started as temporary – often
distinction. To wit, the Seattle chapter of the AIA held
political – stagings, which then became codified
an exhibition in Winter 2013 that featured parklets,
processes. PARK(ing) Day is one such example.
guerrilla gardens, yarn bombs, temporary infill, retail
It began as ‘Portable Architecture’, a performance
housed in shipping containers, sticker bombing and
art piece by Bonnie Ora Sherk in 1970, in which
more besides, all curated as falling under the rubric
she began converting pavements into parks in San
of creative urban inventions.11
Francisco. This action re-emerged in 2005, again in
24
San Francisco, with the transformation of a parking
take place on both public and private sites, often
space into a public park. Within six years this trans-
merging and/or conflicting the two interests.
formation became reified as PARK(ing) Day and had spread globally: thirty-five countries across six
Participatory urbanism as defined in this essay
continents reclaimed 975 parking spaces.14 The
affirms much of what Lydon parses. It is urban
ultimate codification came in 2013 when the city of
action that is small and/or incremental, it responds
Portland established its Street Seats programme,
to immediate needs that engage discourses of
which permits businesses to build small ‘parklets’ in
publicness, it stewards change that is wanted
current, on-street parking spaces. In the trajectory
(defined by a specific group of people), and it can
described above, municipal resources in the form of
be implemented relatively quickly with low initial
parking spaces are first transformed into an artist’s
investment. Participatory urbanism is not defined
provocation, challenging the use of those resources
by who is leading it (ordinary citizens, activists
(should city rights-of-way be for cars or for people?);
or professional experts), but by the actions taken
second, into small public spaces for people to use
(small, but tangible), how they are taken (quickly),
and share at will; and, finally, for private interests
and their tangible impact. Participatory urbanism is
to expand their resources (café seating, while enli-
not professionally led charrettes stewarding large-
vening the pedestrian experience, is still privately
scale development projects (often masquerading as
managed and restricted in its inhabitation). Thus,
community-based design.
while participatory urbanism in the media is often characterised as interventions within the city,
The activism of the 1960s-70s in the United
instigated by activists who want to provoke the allo-
States
prompted
professionals
interested
in
cation of space and resources, it is also happening
community-based design to co-opt the term char-
via government-sanctioned, private investment
rette in order to promote a more public-oriented
transforming city resources. The shift in the actors
design process. The charrette has re-emerged
staging this urbanism has consequences regarding
with new strength from its 1960s-70s launching, in
the actions themselves. While parking spaces
large part due to the success of the New Urbanism
turned into places for people to sit may superficially
movement and, most recently, from a post-Katrina
all seem alike, ownership of those parklets affects
desire to help revive the Gulf Coast region. In the
how public these spaces truly are. For whom are
New Urbanists’ desire to establish strong neigh-
these Street Seats?
bourhoods, both formally and socially, they use the charrette as one of their formidable tools, along-
Participatory urbanism is therefore not only a
side form- and typology-based codes. Within their
subaltern cultural movement, but also a mainstream
paradigm, the charrette becomes a way to facilitate
one. The ‘who’, or actors, of participatory urbanism
change in participants’ perceptions and positions,
range from those on the outside to those who are in
with the end goal being the acceptance of a given
power. Participatory urbanists are activists, neigh-
design. But what does consensus mean when the
bours, groups, non-profits, developers, businesses
desire is to change people’s minds in order to have
and city governments. The variety of actors repre-
them agree to a design? Do the plan and its support
sents a continuum of action, from the illegal and
derive from the charrette, or are they preconceived?
unsanctioned to those codified into regulatory proc-
And if the latter is the case, then for whose benefit
esses and laws, with the former often prompting the
are the review, critique and refinement that takes
latter, such as PARK(ing) Day, Build A Better Block,
place during the charrette: only the participants and
Depave and Open Streets. Moreover, these actions
not the designers? Has the charrette become a
25
mode for defusing implementation disputes rather
urbanism with the ‘latest and greatest’, leveraging
than one for collaborating on critical questions and
the development of this kind of architecture in order
seeking potential answers within a community? If
to attract the accoutrements of a cosmopolitan
public space and urban design are to be embedded
experience: fine cuisine, global brand stores, and a
in the cultural construction of place, then resi-
thriving nightlight scene predicated on a new sense
dents should not be seen merely as an audience
of ‘safety’. And while this constituency has a right to
to receive the wise wisdom of the expert, but as
lay claim to one of the city’s cultures, this does not
experts in their own right who bring a large body of
mean it should be reified into representing the city’s
local and social capital to the process.
dominant culture under the assumption that this is how all citizens would like to see the individual,
This is why the charrette does not appear on the
200-square-foot parcels put to use. And, in turn, this
list of participatory urbanism activities; its use as
does not mean that activist-led urban actions are
a community-based tool is too broad in its imple-
free from bias either. Activists, non-profits, commu-
mentation, too dependent on who is using it and,
nity groups and similar organisations privilege their
more importantly, to what purpose. Some design
own value systems in their desire to transform the
professionals who work intensively with commu-
city according to their vision.
nities seek alternatives to the charrette in order to design with not for communities. The work of
What also distinguishes participatory urbanism
designers like Teddy Cruz, Walter Hood, Bryan Bell
in the United States in the early twenty-first century
and Maurice Cox in projects such as Crown Heights
from other community-based/public interest design
(initiated by architect Manuel Avila) engage alterna-
is the socio-economic and technological contexts
tive practices that elevate residents to experts and
that have fostered its current surge: the economic
give them significant roles in the decision-making
recession and the emergence of accessible, port-
process of design. While laudable, this approach
able, digital technology. The economic downturn
does not meet our present definition of participatory
abruptly interrupted big development projects, both
urbanism, in which incremental, tangible, imme-
public and private. The disappearance of these
diate action are paramount over (en)visioning and
large-scale projects left communities with a bevy of
conceptual speculation.
vacant and abandoned properties, which was further
15
compounded by the demise of smaller businesses Nevertheless, the critique of the charrette as an
caught in the wake of the big money disaster. This
expert-driven, value-laden process can be applied to
made it easier for insurgent intervention to take hold
participatory urban activities as well. Certainly this is
for two main reasons: projects with a small budget
easiest to observe when the activities are supported
could make an impact now that big money was no
by government sanctioned regulations and codes,
longer available to overwhelm them, and munici-
such as the Street Seats programme. For whom is
palities were more forgiving of the unsanctioned
the extra café seating in Portland? People who can
because these undertakings filled a void of inaction
afford to frequent such upper middle-class estab-
and/or displaced, negative, crime-related activities.
lishments are the ones whose cultural values and assumptions are now literally expanding into the
While the economy took a precipitous downturn
streets. These café parklets are certainly not mega-
after 2008, the increase in the proliferation of social
projects like Bilbao, and yet, because they belong to
media orientated platforms, and the ubiquity of
the same taste culture, it needs to be acknowledged
portable devices on which to access them, meant
that this type of urbanism often replaces existing
it was easier to mobilise people and resources. As
26
quickly as one can tweet, one can gather people
discussion that prefigured the stronger and more inter-
and resources for action. Facebook was founded in
active deliberations that filled Liberty Plaza.17
2004, Twitter in 2006. San Francisco’s first renewed interest in turning parking spaces into parks began
The Occupy movement created physical civic
in 2005 and has reached global proportions in less
infrastructures (temporarily permanent) entirely
than a decade. These are not coincidences. This is
generated by the participants. What arose across
the foundation for the twenty-first century version of
the United States was ‘complex, open-source, user-
participatory urbanism, which mobilises quickly and
generated urban infrastructure, where creative
disseminates its actions digitally for easy replication
participation, collaboration, generosity and self-reli-
– with the Occupy movement as the highest profile
ance are privileged over the more traditional urban
example.
imperatives of commerce and efficiency’.18 But can Occupy offer a method for bridging the gap between
Jonathan Massey and Brett Snyder rename
the ephemerality of some participatory urbanism
participatory urbanism under the moniker ‘open-
and the desire for permanent change in the city? And
source urbanism’ because of how mobile devices
can these bottom-up approaches ultimately situate
and their applications allow ‘non-experts’ to
everyday people as equal authors in the design of
become authors of how urban spaces are enacted
the built environment, alongside architects, land-
and how public dialogues are shaped.
Open-
scape architects, planners and preservationists?
source urbanism takes place in both physical
What really happens when citizens take the shaping
and digital spaces and, as the Occupy movement
of the city into their own hands? And are these citi-
demonstrated, often a simultaneous dialogue and
zens just as guilty of leaving people out or behind?
16
overlapping between the two creates the participatory realm in which people actively engage their
Starting in fall 2011, the mythologies of whether
cities, neighbourhoods, and physical public spaces
or not the Occupy movement represented ‘the 99%’
through collecting and sharing data and ideas via
in its entirely gained traction. Two surveys taken that
digital methods. Massey and Snyder note that the
fall were widely reported in the press and opposed
Occupy movement existed virtually before it did
some of the myths (the former involving 1619
physically:
people responding online and the latter involving 198 people responding in person).19 Both surveys
In the months leading up to the first occupation […]
determined that the Occupy Wall Street participants
Occupy established an online presence unmatched in
constituted a mix of ages, wealth, employment and
the history of social action, leveraging multiple online
history of activism, and that no one group domi-
spaces to stage protests and to generate a distinc-
nated in any of these categories. Two categories,
tive counter-public and alternative polity. […] In the
however, had clear majority constituencies: firstly,
summer of 2011, before the first protesters had set foot
on the issue of political identification, 70% claimed
in Liberty Plaza, the Occupy movement was evolving
to be politically independent; and secondly, 92%
toward a model of General Assembly that hybridized
were highly educated – defined as having at least
online and offline discourse. While street activists in
a college degree. Not reported in these surveys
New York were practicing consensus decision-making
were gender, race/ethnicities, or place-based iden-
in public parks, online participants were responding
tifiers. The purpose here is not to parse the reality
to a poll Adbusters created using Facebook’s ‘ques-
of the Occupy constituency, but to acknowledge
tion’ function […] Through this asynchronous online
that the Occupy leadership and ‘citizenry’ had its
polling, Facebook supported a weak form of political
own value systems that were physically manifest
27
in the camps: having libraries, community gardens,
ultimately abandoned), he was implicitly invoking
and/or day-care in a camp were considered value-
a tradition of the homestead as the gateway to
laden choices. It is the recognition of value bias in
community building in the United States. But did
the implementation of city-making processes that is
Bush understand this intersection and its historical
key. Perhaps participatory urbanism is more trans-
underpinnings and policy implications when he
parent because its decisions are made out of doors
suggested homesteading as a possible means by
and in view of all, whereas top-down processes
which residents could participate in the rebuilding of
opaquely embed values in dense codes, regula-
the Gulf Region?
tions, and Byzantine elisions between public and private ownership and occupation.
President Bush’s homesteading proposal was built on the historical precedent set by President
Participatory urbanism as currently described,
Abraham Lincoln.22 In the face of a socially and
and particularly as framed by the Occupy move-
economically conflicted nation on the brink of
ment, focuses on actions that impact the perceived
dissolution, Lincoln dramatically altered American
publicness of space. But if one follows Léon Krier’s
domestic development policy by signing the
formulation, healthy urbanism relies upon a symbi-
Homestead Act on 20 May 1862.23 The Act allowed
otic relationship between both the res publica and
any head of a family aged twenty-one or older to
In other words, the physical fabric of
receive a 160-acre parcel of undeveloped land to
the places where we live and work are just as signif-
farm in the American West.24 The first successful
icant in supporting the physical voids where the
applicant was a farmer named Daniel Freeman,
public unfolds. It is in the private sphere of urbanism
who took his family to the Nebraska plains.25 In
that the nascent intersection between digital and
order to own his homestead outright under the
physical participation in enacting the city has also
Act, Freeman had to build a home, dig a well, plant
developed – through the reinvention of urban home-
crops and live on the land for the next five years.26
steading at the turn of the twenty-first century.
Out of over two million homestead claims filed in
res privata.
20
the 123 years of the programme, more than threeHomesteading in the city
quarters of a million were successful. By the time
In his 15 September 2005 speech in response to the
the Federal Land Policy and Management Act
devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina, George
ended homesteading in 1976 (with the exception
W. Bush, president at the time, made a series of
of Alaska, where homesteading continued until
proposals that included an urban homesteading
1986), the Homesteading Act had provided for the
initiative. He asserted:
settlement of over 270 million acres and affected public lands in thirty states. It also represented the
Under this approach, we will identify property in the
first instance of the U.S. government transferring
region owned by the federal government, and provide
large tracts of the public domain to individuals. In
building sites to low-income citizens free of charge,
initiating a homesteading programme, the govern-
through a lottery. In return, they would pledge to build
ment staged a participatory process wherein
on the lot […] Home ownership is one of the greatest
homesteaders ultimately, and probably unwittingly,
strengths of any community, and it must be a central
fulfilled a government driven political agenda about
part of our vision for the revival of this region.
how citizenship would be defined in the United
21
States in terms of both who would own land and When President Bush proposed that Congress pass an Urban Homesteading Act (that was
what would happen on it.
28
What began as a political agenda aimed at
matter: modernisation came quickly in the nine-
populating the western territories with settlers
teenth century, and this meant that the city became
who might spread the influence of the Union and
an active site for cultivating the idea of home. As
contain slavery and secession, ended up dramati-
America modernised and the Western frontier
cally shifting settlement demographics in the United
closed, issues of home and community moved
States, and concomitant conceptions of home and
back to the urban frontier. Buzz words such as ‘city
community. The Act led to more than the cultiva-
beautiful’ and ‘garden city’ surrounded these early
tion of crops unsuited to the east, such as corn and
twentieth-century conversations on how to define
wheat, it contributed to the political and regional
home and community in the city, with the discussion
development of the nation. Homesteaders were a
reaching its peak after World War II and invoking a
more diverse property-owning constituency than
new nomenclature: urban renewal.
was present in the original colonies, with single women, former slaves and newly arrived immigrants among those filing claims.
27
Urban Homesteading programmes were established in 1973 in the east coast cities of Wilmington, Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York as one of
The Act also reinforced American mythologies
the myriad responses to urban blight and desta-
of manifest destiny and home ownership. It repre-
bilised neighbourhoods. The basic idea of urban
sented a tabula rasa attempt to make America
homesteading was to infill city-owned vacant lots
not only a geographical reality but also a concep-
and/or fill abandoned homes with families. A year
tual one. The Act may have attracted a relatively
after the programmes started in these east-coast
diverse set of people for mid-nineteenth-century
cities, the federal government passed the Housing
America, but its purpose was to mainstream them
and Community Development Act, which allowed
into a cohesive American polity. It was a way of
the stockpile of federally owned homes to join the
populating a nation with a fiction more real that
numbers of municipally owned, tax delinquent build-
the historically available reality: Americans would
ings populating the homesteading programmes. By
make communities based on individual stakes.
1975, programmes had expanded to twenty-three
Community would be derived not through physical
cities around the country.29
28
proximity and socially established and locally based ritual, but through a collectively held identity: the farming pioneer.
As opposed to the bureaucratically sponsored response to urban renewal, which demolished neighbourhoods in order to build anew, New York’s
When Thomas Jefferson envisioned a thou-
Urban Homesteading Assistance Board (UHAB),
sand-year expansion of America’s yeomen farmers
founded in 1973 by young architects, urban plan-
cultivating a pastoral landscape (via the Louisiana
ners, and activists living and working in lower
Purchase), he still feared the influence of mills
Harlem, supported self-help housing. Formed in the
and factories, not just in their potential urbanisa-
midst of housing abandonment and neighbourhood
tion of America, but also for what it would mean
deterioration, the UHAB set out to help low-income
for the polity of the nation. Jefferson’s vision for
community residents gain control over abandoned,
America was expansive in geography but static in
city-owned
spatial form and cultural implication, and actively
homeowners with a long-term stake in their neigh-
excluded the urban in the establishment of an
bourhoods. Through UHAB’s efforts, New York City
American community made up of individual home-
now boasts the largest community of affordable
steaders. But Jefferson’s exclusions would not
housing co-ops in the country, with 1,200 buildings
housing
and
become
cooperative
29
housing approximately 100,000 low-income people.
neighbourhood, having pushed out these lowerclass residents. In 2002, U.S. Congressman Elijah
In this configuration of home and commu-
E. Cummings wrote in the Baltimore Afro American
nity, home was a means for social and economic
newspaper that urban renewal in Otterbein had
empowerment. Instead of a top-down vision of how
‘displaced these original, South Baltimore residents
to make place in the United States, it was a bottom-
[…] with little compensation and almost without a
up effort that focused more narrowly on making
trace that they had ever lived there.’30
neighbourhoods. Here, home and community did not serve as tools to cohere a broader polity and/
Baltimore’s engagement with homesteading
or to define what it meant to be American. Instead,
provided a different penetration of the home-
community meant a specific group of people whose
community dialectic, and a different relationship
common bond was their relationship to a specific,
between those staging the participation and
physical place. Home was the means by which they
those invited to participate. In fact, Cummings’
would not only not be displaced from that specific
concerns about the changes in Otterbein are not
place, but could, in fact, reinforce and solidify their
unique to that neighbourhood, with many east
previously tenuous relationship to place. This config-
coast cities concocting a similar recipe of existing
uration of the home-community dialogue took those
nineteenth-century housing stock and imported
who dwelled precariously on the margins and rein-
twentieth-century residents, now served up as a
forced their patterns of culture into ones that were
twenty-first century, upper middle-class enclave.
legitimised and stable. Here, a public-private part-
This type of revitalisation was, and no doubt is,
nership (where publicly owned property has been
good for Baltimore’s economy, but what does it
transferred to private ownership with the assistance
mean for the way people participate in the making of
of a professional class of experts), achieves parity
community? In Baltimore home(steading) became
in the staging of the participatory process by deter-
a vehicle for displacement. Whereas in New York
mining who owns the property and what they want
a sense of physical and cultural sustainability was
to happen on it.
woven into the implementation of homesteading, in Baltimore (and in other places), homesteading was
Like New York, Baltimore has been praised for
successfully
piloting
urban
a mechanism for the creation of a new community
homesteading
rather than the re-establishment of an existing one.
programmes in the 1970s. The Baltimore experi-
The participants are not from the place but relocate
ence was more typical of city-based programmes
there in order to create a new place more accept-
than New York’s community-based approach,
able to the public sector’s vision of the city. For a
which was less common. In 1975, Baltimore’s
community in the process of becoming rather than
mayor William Donald Schaefer helped stay the
surviving, home was the mechanism by which a
impending destruction of the Otterbein neighbour-
new Baltimore (as envisioned by city leaders) could
hood by establishing a homesteading programme.
come into being.
Winners of the August 1975 lottery were able to purchase one of the 110 dwellings for one dollar.
Virtual homesteading
Otterbein became America’s largest one-dollar
The new Baltimore at the turn of the twenty-first
homesteading community at the time. Originally
century, however, retained many of the problems of
home to thriving immigrant families of newly arrived
the 1960s and 70s city. Beset by drugs and concom-
Italians, Greeks, Germans and Poles working on the
itant crime problems, which began in the 1980s
waterfront, Otterbein is now an upper middle-class
with crack cocaine and have continued unabated,
30
Baltimore’s historic fabric remained largely intact
properties one by one in various locations, he envi-
while its social tapestry was unravelling. Areas
sioned a collective move into abandoned properties
around the inner harbour thrived with a limited revi-
within the same neighbourhood. The project, which
talisation from the 1990s, but those beyond walking
garnered the moniker ‘buy-a-block’ began in the
distance from the harbour remained impoverished.
spring of 2002 and was publicised through online
With Baltimore ranking second in the U.S. for aban-
forums, in local papers, fliers and through word of
doned buildings at the beginning of the twenty-first
mouth. Meister received an immediate response
century, the city needed a revised approach to its
by people intrigued with a collective rehabilitation
thirty-year-old homesteading programme in order
effort and who felt that the approach would offer
to continue to reinvest in both the city’s social and
safety in numbers as they moved into a blighted
physical capital. This twenty-first century version of
neighbourhood. The majority of those attracted to
urban homesteading came to Baltimore not from
Meister’s vision were young, white, urban-oriented
the city government, but as a grassroots effort that
professionals looking to live closer to the urban
demonstrates an early intersection of physical and
core of Baltimore. Meister coined the term ‘rybbie’
digital participatory urbanism.
– risk-taking, young, Baltimorean – to describe the members of his homesteading project. The rybbies
Adam Meister, a native of Reistertown (a Baltimore
suburb),
Baltimore’s decline.
constant
had
grown
struggle
up
watching
against
focused on location as their project got off the ground. The location issue included not only what
urban
was literally available for purchase, but also what
A young professional, he decided to do
they deemed was appropriate and desirable. The
something about it by posting his thoughts on the
group decided on Reservoir Hill, a thirty-two block,
web:
residential neighbourhood with little new develop-
31
ment, but plenty of vacancy and abandonment since There is an old saying that goes a little something like
1940. On the positive side was the architecture. On
this: ‘You can’t choose your neighbours’. Most of the
the negative side, rampant drug dealing and the
time when a person or a couple moves into a neigh-
perilousness of walking to a nearby grocery store.
bourhood they do not bring along a friend to move next door. But what if you could do this? Not only would
Despite the deterioration of the neighbourhood,
you and a friend move in at the same time, but there
the rybbies were concerned that real estate specu-
would be 15 other friends moving in also. I have been
lation might drive up the costs if their plans became
thinking and I realized that Baltimore is the perfect city
too public and attracted developers, so they oper-
for such an event to take place … If 15 to 30 other
ated as a virtual community with an invitation-only
people just like me, people who were willing to take
mailing list. Meister believed they distinguished
chances and work hard, bought some of these cheap
themselves from ordinary real estate investors by
homes at the same time then we could change the
their desire to live in the neighbourhood. They were
area right away. The fact that somebody with the same
not interested in flipping the properties for profit, but
goals in mind as you is right next-door will provide an
in creating a community with shared values and a
immediate sense of security. Once people heard of
liveable environment. To turn their virtual commu-
these pioneers who resurrected these dead blocks
nity into a physical one, the rybbies made an offer
then others would move in and fix up properties.
on the 2200 block of Linden Avenue. All properties
32
but one in this initial phase were abandoned or What Meister proposed was urban homesteading, but instead of the homesteaders buying vacant
vacant.
31
During their physical renovations, the rybbies also formed a block group that actively engaged
owned businesses and I would hope you want to do the same.33
with existing residents, and sponsored regular neighbourhood ‘clean-ups’. Without many years
While there was a clear dislike associating chain
of hindsight it is hard to know whether this home-
stores and the commercial enterprises with the
steading effort will displace the current residents, as
Baltimore suburbs, it was less clear where the
occurred in Otterbein, or weave new threads into
group stood on the issue of gentrification. Although
the old, creating a revised social tapestry. However,
most expressed a disdain for it when directly
because these homesteaders formed their commu-
posed the question, some still expressed a desire
nity online it is possible to follow their discussions
for a boutique commercial culture associated with
on the type of urbanism they were trying to create.
upper middle-class urbanism. In other words, what appealed to some of the group was the type of
Virtually a community
neighbourhood Otterbein had become. Other post-
What exactly did Meister’s homesteaders mean by
ings were more vocal and pointed out the distinction
community? And how could that fit into the existing
between revitalisation and gentrification.
neighbourhood in Reservoir Hill? The on-line discussions often focused on common urban amen-
I think there needs to be a better understanding of
ities like walkability, proximity to recreational open
what true ‘urban living’ is before some of you decide
space, ease of commute, retention of the architec-
to make this life alternating move. Urban living is a
tural character of Baltimore and proximity to retail
mixture of homes, parks, retail (both chains and local)
establishments. As it became a physical reality,
as well as dogs and 24 hour stores. Correct me if I’m
discussions of what they wanted for their virtual
wrong, but isn’t the goal to revitalize a city?? I ask
community often invoked the brand of Starbucks as
because diversity is the key to doing this and trying
a way of circling around issues of gentrification.
to build something Walt Disney would of [sic.] been proud of will never work.34
mmm…I don’t want ‘a Starbucks on the corner’ I want a community. Proximity to chain restaurants and
This poster recognised that ‘chain’ versus ‘locally
coffee shops is not a concern of mine at all when it
owned’ was still being framed from a suburban,
comes to picking my future home. As for commercial
upper middle-class sensibility. The poster’s notion
businesses in Belevedere Square they are not next
of urban living meant an inclusion of chain stores,
door to residential areas the way that Laundromats,
24 hour stores, and locally owned business that
Bail Bondsman, check cashing places and the like
would support existing needs as well as the growth
were in SoWeBo. I do not wish to live next door to
of those needs. In other words, his/her notion of
a business that is open 24 hrs a day! I can’t imagine
urbanity was less about a community of shared
many people do when there are so many other
values than about a heterogeneous civility. In the
choices available…The whole idea behind this project
end, the poster represented what the homesteaders
is that we are building a community, not a business
would advocate: an arresting of the potential cultural
venture. I want to live in a neighbourhood where I can
co-opting of the neighbourhood before it began.
take advantage of all it offers and quite frankly if being near a Starbucks is your first concern, Baltimore might
The homesteaders were aware and concerned
not be the best place for you to live. I look forward
about their role in the displacement of an already
to becoming a member of one of these communi-
established community. Since the premise of
ties and continuing to do my part to patronize locally
the project was the collective move of an online
32
‘community’ formed in cyberspace into real-life
refer to is a bit disheartening, teetering on the verge of
geographic proximity, there was a distinct sense of
classism and I’d dare say ra … you get my point. Not
‘us’ (the online community) and ‘them’ (the existing
all of ‘those’ people are lazy, crack dealing, thieving,
residents). For many, the notion of a collective move
polluting, section eight receiving, eyesores that some
into a neighbourhood smacked of a ‘white invasion’
of us tend to describe them as. Just like all of ‘you’
or neighbourhood coup. Opinions about the legiti-
people aren’t really contributing to the upliftment of the
macy of such concerns, the quality of the existing
community through blindly pointing the finger … yeah,
culture, and assumptions about how they might be
you see that word, COMMUNITY. A group of people
perceived by residents varied greatly, with most
living in the same locality and under the same govern-
agreeing that gentrification was not the goal, even
ment. Sharing, participation, and fellowship. PEOPLE
though some viewed it as inevitable. Nevertheless,
make the community, all PEOPLE … poor, middle
as the online community discussed their future
class, and upper class.35
neighbours, they qualified whom they would be willing (and, perhaps, eager) to have displaced from
The distinction that many online members made
Reservoir Hill: those who did not own homes.
between owner-occupants and renters carried value-laden assumptions about who would be an
One thing that must be considered if we’re gonna
asset to their enterprise, all centring around the
move […] is NOT trying to get those who own and
notion of home as conveying legitimate member-
live there to move out. I have met and talked to a few
ship to a community. Their perception of the existing
of them, and they hate living amongst that scene as
community relative to their homesteading project is
much as any of us would. […] My point is that the
not unique. As Sean Zielenbach notes:
owners should be thought of as our future neighbours, not those that we need out of the way so we can move
Americans desire to help the less fortunate members
in. But of course the renters must go, or be encour-
of society, yet they also hold strong beliefs in the
aged to join us, so they can own their own home.
primacy of the private sector and the importance of individual autonomy and responsibility. Public opinion
The biggest and most effective solution is, was and
surveys continually illustrate a widespread belief in
always will be home ownership… Home ownership is
hard work as a predictor of success and unyielding
the only way to have a population invested in its city.
faith in the free market as the best means for promoting
20%-30% aint gonna do it. Look at neighbourhood
economic gain.36
clean ups, get out to vote drives, community gardens, neighbourhood policing. Who is it that participates?
In the us-vs-them paradigm, American society
Home owners […] not landlords, not those who rent
makes distinctions between the deserving and
from them. Are the problems caused by the home-
undeserving, as evidenced by the commentary
owner/resident? No, of course not […] property value
surrounding the Hurricane Katrina disaster. Hence
and quality of life is too important. Landlords, land
the deserving poor of Reservoir Hill are those who
bankers, low quality renters […] now, therein lies the
demonstrate their worthiness via homeownership,
problem […] too many people just passing through.
given that forces outside their control have caused the decay of their neighbourhood. The unde-
I will say this, and this is me being frank and honest
serving poor of Reservoir Hill are renters, who are
but some of the comments made about ‘lower class’
often associated with a culture of crime, seen as
or ‘section 8’ or ‘those people’ that you guys in here
causing neighbourhood deterioration and perceived
33
as lazy and/or morally weak because they have
population decline, vacancy and abandonment,
failed to accumulate the wealth necessary for
and conflicts in cultural values.37 And although
homeownership.
neighbourhood revitalisation usually focuses on physical improvements, it clearly has a social
The original homesteading act was about
impact. Physical interventions do indeed transform
changing the nature of the cultural landscape of
the built environment but they do not necessarily
America via publicly owned land on which citizens
eliminate poverty, nor do they address the socio-
would take government sanctioned action. The first
economic disparities prevalent in many major (and
urban homesteading initiatives of the 1970s vacil-
minor) American cities and suburbs.
lated between changing who and what contributed to community in the city and stabilising the extant
The politics of culture are just as important as
communities – with the former taking precedence
aesthetic considerations in the complex efforts to
over the latter. Primarily, the twentieth-century
revitalise cities. As Roberta Gratz notes: ‘No one
urban form of homesteading was a response to the
should want to protect the status quo of a deterio-
middle, upper, and primarily white, class flight to
rated neighbourhood. If all change is mislabelled
the suburbs. In order to lure people back into the
as gentrification without distinctions, the problem of
downtown neighbourhoods, publicly owned prop-
gentrification is not addressed, just ignored’.38 It is
erty was made available for next to nothing. But the
important to be aware that many physically dete-
people who invisibly occupied this world of the next
riorated neighbourhoods can, in fact, be vital as
to nothing were not a factor in (re)building the city’s
communities if they ‘possess viable social networks
communities (with the notably exception of UHAB)
that function to meet the needs of their popula-
and were not allowed to participate in their own
tions’.39 Is there a way to balance the micro and
urbanism. Instead, new participants constructed a
macro effects of revitalisation? Is there a middle
government-sponsored vision of urbane living. In
ground between whole cloth demographic change
the twenty-first century, Meister and the rybbies
of the community and stopping the continued dete-
changed the homesteading paradigm away from
rioration of blighted neighbourhoods? How can
publicly sponsored programmes to a citizen-gener-
cities address these issues to encourage good
ated shaping of the city. Yet this private effort did
subcultural networks without exacerbating the
not come from the existing urban dwellers but from
segregation of economic classes or discouraging
a group of self-declared ‘pioneers’, who strug-
private investment? The answers to these ques-
gled with issues of inequality among their digitally
tions need to be made manifest not only through
formed community and the neighbourhood’s resi-
the physical rebuilding of homes, but also through
dents. Although their aim is to create an urban place
the rebuilding of institutions (both from the top-down
of heterogeneous civility, their methods and tactics
and bottom-up), and adjusting public policies and
have yet to engage others outside their cultural
other governmental frameworks to reinforce the
group.
viability of subcultural groups within the mainstream polity.
An anthropological urbanism The physical deterioration of many of America’s
As in 1862, but under very different circum-
cities is not only due to unique circumstances fash-
stances, American
ioned by natural disasters, but also to an ongoing
large tracts of land that are underutilised: prima-
municipalities
today
have
series of systemic problems: poverty, gentrification,
rily, vacant or abandoned ones. Sites in the public
34
domain could be activated by hosting a variety of
perhaps to the frustration of the professionalised
groups to stage ‘urbanisms’, supported by the use
built environment disciplines, what they produced,
of digital and traditional mechanisms to create
during the conscious participation and documenta-
feedback loops on uses and practices. Privately
tion of their everyday lives, is often more compelling
held sites could be incentivised beyond the current
than the over-planned downtowns or the fictional-
regulations that make lot parking the most profit-
ised ‘new’ urbanisms being designed and built all
able use, to promote instead temporary and tactical
over the United States in the context of local and
physical installations that might catalyse more
global development pressures.
permanent vitality. Participatory urbanism’s ability to supplant the few with the many, both in terms of who
In his essay ‘The Stranger’s Path’, J.B. Jackson
makes the city and how it gets made, might provide
parses both the elements of distinctiveness and
a guiding methodology as long as it is critically
ubiquity
assessed: firstly, to understand who the actors are
American cities. In this piece he notes the fondness
and for whom the actions take place; and secondly,
of planners for using Italian public spaces as exem-
in the case of officially sanctioned provocations, to
plars for how America should be designed:
in
discussing
mid-twentieth-century
determine if issues of public and private ownership and the right to inhabitation are being lost in the
I am growing a little weary of the Piazza San Marco.
translation to regulation. Participatory urbanism can
I yield to no one in my admiration of its beauty and
promote an anthropologically rich city, a city with a
social utility, but it seems to me that those who hold it
plurality of rituals and dwellings, when it transpar-
up as the prototype of all civic (traffic-free) centres are
ently acknowledges who owns the land, who acts
not always aware of what makes it what it is.42
on it, whose values are being preferred and how these factors correlate to the physical publicness
Jackson’s message is that one can admire the
and occupation of the city.
Piazza San Marco, but the reason it works physically, economically, and socio-culturally is because
What participatory urbanism ultimately high-
it is deeply embedded in Venetian patterns of living,
lights is the disparity between professionalised
and that when transported to another locale it loses
discussions of place and those that derive from its
its deeper meanings and raison d’être. It becomes
inhabitants. Occupy Wall Street was too preoccu-
lost in translation when mimicked in various socio-
pied with its agenda – which Kenneth Stahl argues
cultural milieux. Like Jackson, we too should be
persuasively was the occupation of place itself,
weary of the spread of an American-influenced
not an ambiguously undefined socio-political or
global approach to urban design, whether within
economic aim – to worry about how Zuccotti Park
or beyond the borders of the United States. The
would be writ large with stereotypes, good and
danger of predetermined formal paradigms, or
bad.40 If, as Edward Weston says, participatory
charrettes that masquerade as community-building
urban groups achieve a ‘freshness of vision’, it is
exercises, is that place becomes disconnected from
when they are not forced to fit into preconceived
people. This disconnect can be seen most vividly in
patterns. The Occupy movement did not reify its
the empty town squares that have littered the New
creation of an urban realm (or its digital discussions
Urbanism, or in the newly branded old urbanism of
of that creation) into The Paradigm for the built
Quebec, London and Rome, all with their Starbucks,
environment; instead, the environments that were
Barnes and Noble and McDonald’s. In this context,
made, mapped or recorded revealed the patterns
the space is rendered neutral and devoid of place-
of lived and built culture in their urbanisms.41 And
ness; it is the global brand that leads to similar
35
experiences across continents and cultures – as
how can we sharpen our skill in recognising poten-
well as prompting the ire of the Occupy movement.
tial bias? What are the unintended consequences
In the twenty-first century, public places have
of expertise-driven design decisions, of grass-roots
become both privatised and commercialised to the
urbanism that becomes codified, and of issues of
detriment of the people who occupy them (the very
equity in the process and products of both top-
point made, ironically, by those who encamped in
down and bottom-up urban methodologies? How
Zuccotti Park). This approach belies that the people
do we challenge cultural assumptions to ensure the
are the place. Participatory urbanism demonstrates
‘universal’ is not being imposed on the local? And
that urbanism can and needs to be fabricated on
how do we learn to think beyond the replication of a
more than form alone: it requires transformation
paradigm in order to embrace the particular and let
rather than imitation, a synthesis of local prac-
the peculiar thrive? These questions should not be
tices and global economics. And most importantly,
aimed solely at the New Urbanists, Post Urbanists,
it does not need to use consensus building as a
planners and other professional designers, but also
means of resolving potential development obsta-
at those who frame and therefore reify participatory
cles, but should instead elevate all involved to
urbanism as an alternative, for they also participate
the simultaneous roles of expert and audience. In
with their own preferred set of values in the produc-
this way place will thrive because it will be derived
tion of a value-biased city. As Matthew Passmore
from an extensive collaboration that raises process
notes:
over product.43 It is these contemporary examples of place conceived as product rather than process
[…] technocratic and participatory approaches to
that served as a core rallying point for the Occupy
urbanism, when combined, offer an extraordinary
movement, and they also serve to illustrate the
range of tools for improving the social and ecological
disconnect that emerges when designers and plan-
health of the city. […] as San Francisco prepares
ners focus exclusively on the physical.
to spend billions of dollars to upgrade its combined sewer system, it may consider funding—for a scan
If we assume that cities are a cultural construct
fraction of the larger project—community groups to
and not a just a physical fact, then what is it that we
build neighbourhood gardens, pocket parks and other
are trying to make when we place-make? And are
landscapes that reduce the flow of rainwater into the
there people, buildings, landscapes, sites or other
water treatment system. The strain on this major
aspects being left out or left behind in the construct
infrastructural project could be reduced by some well-
of place making? In other words, for whom are
planned, small-scale urban interventions.46
we engaging in urban design?44 Although those engaged in urban design may believe their values
If place offers a realm of conflicting simultaneity
are ‘objectively right’, place-making judgements
between ideal forms and performative tactics,
can be neither objective nor universal because the
then an anthropological urbanism offers the ability
designers themselves are ‘part of a class group
to understand how people enact places to reveal
with its own distinct values’,45 as are the activists
the politics of context, both to instil and destabilise
engaged in participatory urbanism. An anthropolog-
beliefs and values, and to rebel against tradition.
ical urbanism calls for self-awareness by all parties
Understanding participatory urbanism as an anthro-
participating in the politics of urban design. In other
pology of urbanism has the potential to allow a
words, what is the nature of the knowledge base
plurality of people to become equal partners with
that informs what we mean by place making? What
form and space in the making of place, instead of
are the assumed values in this knowledge base and
being subservient or non-existent. In establishing
36
an
anthropology
of
urbanism,
participatory
Cornell University, 1967. Wayne Copper, ‘The Figure/
urbanism acknowledges that the role of architecture
Grounds’, in Cornell Journal of Architecture, no. 2
extends beyond object making and puts the maker
(1983).
inside the place rather than removed from it, thus
5. A lengthier discussion on this topic can be found in
inverting the customary primacy of product over
B.D. Wortham-Galvin and Isaac Williams, ‘Walking
process. The methodology is to make the familiar
the City: The Physical and Social Urban Form Made
strange: to allow us to recognise ourselves, our
Public’, in Proceedings from the ASCA 96th Annual
ways of living, our conflicts and our traditions by
Conference (Houston: University of Houston, 2008).
rendering them legible, neither hidden nor – as is
6. Douglas Kelbaugh, ‘Toward an Integrated Paradigm:
even more often the case – assumed and gener-
Further Thoughts on Three Urbanisms’, in Places 19,
alised. As long as participatory urbanism honestly
2 (2007), pp. 13, 15.
and openly acknowledges the issues involved in
7. Ibid.
who makes places, who occupies them, and the
8. An in-depth discussion of both the notion of the public
potential contestation that may occur between and
and of place can be found in: B.D. Wortham-Galvin
within these groups, then, by asserting an anthro-
and Isaac Williams, ‘The Stranger’s Path: The Cultural
pology of urbanism, participatory urbanism offers a
Landscape of Urban Form’, in Instant Cities (Sharjah:
way of ‘broadening good design practice into good
the Center for the Study of Architecture in the Arab
cultural practice’.
Region, American University of Sharjah, UAE, 2008),
47
pp. 365-80. 9. Doug Kelbaugh’s ‘Toward an Integrated Paradigm:
Notes
Further Thoughts on the Three Urbanisms’, and
1. Kim O’Connell, ‘Newest Urbanism’, Architect, July 2013,
[accessed 11 July 2013].
Harrison Fraker’s ‘Where is the Urban Design Discourse?’, Places 19, 3 (2007), pp. 61-63, are examples of such synoptic accounts.
2. Tactical Urbanism 2: Short-Term Action, Long-Term
10. Nate Berg, ‘The Official Guide to Tactical Urbanism’,
Change, ed. by Mike Lydon and others,[published
The Atlantic Cities Place Matters, 2 (March 2012),
online as a PDF by the Street Plans Collective],
[accessed 15 February 2013]. 3. Colin
Rowe
and
Fred
Koetter,
11. Lindsey M. Roberts, ‘Design Intervenes to Save Our Cities’, Architect (exhibition review),
Collage
Krier, Urban space = Stadtraum (New York: Rizzoli
[accessed 5 August 2013].
International Publications, 1979). Leon Krier: archi-
12. Kelli Anderson’s ideas about ‘disruptive wonder’ can
tecture and urban design, 1967-1992, ed. by Richard
be found in her TedTalk
[accessed 29 January 2013].
4. Thomas Schumacher, ‘Contextualism: Urban Ideals
For a discussion of the concept of ‘making the familiar
and Deformations’, in Theorizing a New Agenda for
strange’ see B. D. Wortham-Galvin, ‘Making the
Architecture: An Anthology of Architectural Theory
Familiar Strange: Understanding Design Practice
1965-1995, ed. by Kate Nesbitt (New York: Princeton
as Cultural Practice’, in The Urban Wisdom of Jane
Architectural Press, 1996), pp. 294-307. Wayne
Jacobs, ed. by Sonia Hirt (New York: Routledge,
Copper,
2012), pp. 229-44.
‘The
Figure/Grounds’,
M.Arch
Thesis,
37
13. A discussion of participatory urbanism as performance art in San Francisco can be found in Matthew
his concepts of urbanism. 21. President
Bush
addressed
the
nation
on
15
Passmore, ‘Participatory Urbanism. Taking action by
September 2005. The transcript of this speech was
taking space’, Urbanist (February 2010),
‘President Discusses Hurricane Relief in Address to
[accessed 15 February 2013].
Nation’ and can be found at
14. Lydon (n.d.), Tactical Urbanism 2, p. 15.
[accessed 5 January 2006].
15. All information about the Crown Heights Participatory
22. For a broader historical discussion of homesteading
Urbanism project can be found on its website,
and its relationship to the Katrina disaster see, B.D.
Wortham, ‘Home Sweet Homestead: Remaking the
[accessed 23 January 2013].
Gulf Coast After Katrina’, in Battleground
States:
16. Jonathan Massey & Brett Snyder, ‘Occupying Wall Street: Places and Spaces of Political Action’, The Design Observer Group, posted 17 September 2012,
Scholarship
in
Contemporary America,
ed.
by
Stephen Swanson et al., (Newcastle, U.K.: Cambridge Scholars Press, 2007), pp. 160-82.
[accessed 20 February 2013].
the nation. Good references on the Homestead Act
17. Ibid.
include: Everett Dick, The Lure of the Land: A Social
18. Ibid.
History of the Public Lands from the Articles of the
19. The first survey was published by Hector Cordero-
Confederation to the New Deal (Lincoln: University
Guzman, PhD, a sociology professor at the City
of Nebraska, 1970); Paul Gates, The Jeffersonian
University of New York and included 1619 online
Dream: Studies in the History of American Land
respondents. The second survey took place in person
Policy and Development (Albuquerque: University of
with 198 people present in Zuccotti Park (the site of
New Mexico Press, 1996); Harold Hyman, American
Occupy Wall Street) conducted by Fox news analyst
Singularity: The 1787 Northwest Ordinance, the 1862
Douglas Schoen’s polling outfit. Press coverage
Homestead and Morrill Acts, and the 1944 G.I. Bill
of these surveys can be found at the following
(Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1986), and Roy
websites [accessed 5 August 2013]: ,
,
1942).
,,
,
,
.
viewed more as a means of generating revenue for
20. Both of Léon Krier’s books, The Architecture of
the government than as a means for encouraging
Community and Architecture: Choice or Fate deal with
settlement. With the cost of a section set at $1 per
38
acre for 640 acres, the price was often inaccessible. It
14,000 vacant lots. There is a 7.2 vacancy rate for
should also be noted that in the 1860s the West began
residential properties.
in what today would be considered the Midwest (i.e.,
32. Yahoo Groups, ‘TechBalt Yahoo Group’. (Restricted
the American West began to the west of the original
Access, invitation only),
colonies). 25. Daniel Freeman made the first claim under the Homestead Act on 1 January 1863. 26. Other homesteaders were permitted live on the land
[accessed September-December 2005]. 33. Ibid. 34. Ibid. 35. Ibid.
for just six months if they paid a $1.25 per acre fee.
36. Sean Zielenbach, The Art of Revitalization: Improving
The Act was later modified to make it easier for Civil
Conditions in Distressed Inner-City Neighborhoods
War soldiers and former slaves to qualify. The number of acres on which a family could homestead was also increased.
(Cleveland: Garland Publishing, Inc., 2000), pp. 7-8. 37. In its 20 March 2000 issue, USA Today published a list of American cities with the most abandoned
27. More famous claimants included inventor/educator
buildings. Topping the list of the cities that provided
George Washington Carver, the parents of author
data were Philadelphia (27,000), Baltimore (15,000),
Willa Cather, author Laura Ingalls Wilder, musician
Houston (8000), Detroit (7500), Kansas City (5000),
Lawrence Welk, and the grandparents of contempo-
Indianapolis (3400), San Antonio (3000), Jacksonville
rary musician Jewel Kilcher.
(2800), Louisville (2200), Mobile (2009) and Los
28. This blank slate approach of the United States government toward land development was accomplished by
Displacement
and
Neighborhood
ignoring the existing Native American settlements
Revitalization, ed. by Bruce London and J. John Palen
already populating the land.
(Albany, NY: State University of New York Press,
29. Mother Earth News, Issue 65, September/October 1980. 30. Elijah Cummings, ‘Baltimore’s Urban Renewal’, in
Angeles (1800) 38. Gentrification,
1984), p. 7. 39. Ibid, p. 10. 40. Kenneth Stahl, ‘How the Occupy Movement Changed
Baltimore AFRO American, February 2002.
Urban Government’, The Atlantic Cities, 6 February
2012, [accessed 20 January 2013]. 41. The term ‘enacted environment’ is borrowed from James Rojas’ work.
It has been affected by the nation’s trend towards
42. J.B. Jackson, ‘The Stranger’s Path’ in Landscapes:
increased suburbanisation and a severe decline in
Selected Writings of J.B. Jackson, ed. by Ervin H.
city population. According to the 2003 Census, the
Zube (Amherst: The University of Massachusetts
population has dropped from a 1950 all-time high of
Press, 1970), p. 92-106.
almost 950,000 to 628,670, more than a 30% popu-
43. A broader discussion of this topic can be found in:
lation decline. The racial composition of the city has
B.D. Wortham-Galvin, ‘Mythologies of Placemaking’,
also changed dramatically since 1950, when it was
Places 20, 1 (2008), pp. 32-39.
composed of 76.2% white, 23.7% black and 0.1%
44. I address the ‘for whom’ question from another point
other. In 2000 it was 31.6% white, 64.3% black and
of view in: B.D. Wortham, ‘Cultural Sustainability and
4.1% other. The population decline has resulted in the
Architecture’, Design Science in Architecture, GAM.02
widespread abandonment of housing units. Baltimore
(2005), pp. 62-77.
currently has around 16,000 vacant properties and
45. Catherine Bisher, ‘Yuppies, Bubbas, and the Politics
39
of Culture’, Perspectives in Vernacular Architecture, III, ed. by Thomas Carter and Bernard Herman (Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 1989). 46. Passmore, ‘Participatory Urbanism. Taking action by taking space’ (2010). 47. B.D. Wortham-Galvin, ‘Making the Familiar Strange: Understanding Design Practice as Cultural Practice’ (2012).
Biography Brooke D. Wortham-Galvin is an assistant professor in the School of Architecture, Portland State University and director of the non-profit Urban Dialogues. She teaches a variety of subjects including history and theory, adaptive reuse, urban design, and community engaged design. Her scholarship focuses on how theories of the everyday can be applied to the design and stewardship of the built environment.
40
41
Towards an Architecture of Dissensus: Participatory Urbanism in South-East Asia Camillo Boano and Emily Kelling
Introduction
politics and political emancipation, which illuminates
This paper offers a novel series of reflections on
opportunities for the act of design to either reforge
the relationship between design and politics in the
connections or further disintegrate architecture
context of participatory practices, slum upgrading
with its political and social function. Part of a ‘new
and wider participatory urbanisms. It critically
French generation’ of contemporary thinkers, such
discusses the specific material and political condi-
as Jean-Luc Nancy, Bernard Stiegler, Catherine
tions of a South-East Asian case of slum upgrading,
Malabou and Alain Badiou, Rancière has turned
which aims at an ‘alternative development process
from language to materiality as his core concern.
in which the people […] are at the centre of a process
This is particularly useful in our attempt to approach
of transforming their lives, settlements and position
egalitarian political practice in the urban reality
in the city’.1 The paper draws on Jacques Rancière’s
since he addresses the mechanisms through which
work, in particular his principles of equality, his
the domain of sensual experience is parcelled out: a
conception of the partition of the sensible and his
division which serves to maintain a perceived sepa-
reflections on the politics of aesthetics as an intel-
ration of capacities regarding who can and who
lectual reference for an interrogation of the aesthetic
cannot legitimately speak. Here, politics becomes
regimes and spatial coordinates that have animated
a matter of individuals contesting their subordinate
the debate about urban poverty eradication, slum
position through an act of disrupting the division of
upgrading and participatory design. The empirical
sensible experience. This triad relationship of (in)
material observed in South-East Asia does not
equality, politics, and sensible experience is why
touch simplistically on the discourse of sustaina-
Rancière’s work is so relevant to this essay, which
bility,2 upgrading and informality, but instead it offers
aims to explore the way in which design and archi-
readers an unapologetically political reflection, in
tecture can become relevant to egalitarian politics.
that it lives up to a call for perpetual democratisation in which active citizens – who commit to managing
Central to such discussion is what authors like
themselves and their spaces autonomously – are
Žižek and Mouffe define as post-democratic or post-
continuously struggling to become active and
political; in other words, the current political condition
participate in the city.3
in which the spaces of public reflection are voided of dispute and disagreement4 and replaced instead
The reasons for adopting Rancière’s work as
by a consensually established frame within which
an intellectual toolbox for this exercise in thinking
participation serves to uphold an image of democ-
about the political potential of design and partici-
racy.5 What is discussed on the political agenda in
patory urbanism are multiple, and can be found in
the post-political condition is pre-ordained on the
his material, sensorial and concrete formulation of
basis of unquestioned and unquestionable axioms
13
The Participatory Turn in Urbanism, Autumn 2013, pp. 41-62
42
concerning social relationships, how the economy
overt pragmatism and rigidity of the discipline in the
should be organised or a city built. By governing
form of the so-called autonomous project.13 While a
the boundaries of what is – and what is not – the
discussion of the concept of autonomy exceeds the
subject of debate from the outset, participation
scope of this article, an understanding of architec-
functions to demonstrate ‘that the people are part of
ture as non-autonomous and, as Fischer presents
the political process’. Here, however, the scope of
it,14 existing in contiguity with society and culture as
politics, opposed to negotiating conflict, is reduced
a reflection of societal conditions, is a precondition
to identifying consensus within a given, and mostly
for utilising Ranciere’s spatiality of equality. Echoing
economically determined, frame.7 Although such
a call from the current debate on participatory
a shallow form of (usually localised) participation
urbanism15 – whether in its form of Do-It-Yourself16
can address the manifestation of local ‘wrongs’,
urban activism17 or seen as the struggle over
it hardly challenges root causes.8 While we adopt
democracy and the right to the city18 – we under-
this post-political approach, the argument at hand
stand architecture not merely as form or object, but
is that participation can take a multiplicity of forms,
as a complex and contingent condition that both
from pacifying critique to politicising action. In the
enables and constrains thinking and actions; a
case of Baan Mankong and the Asian Coalition
gesture that involves both reflective and projective
for Community Action (ACCA), we see a paradig-
modes, contemplating critique and active interven-
matic case of participatory urbanism transgressing
tion. Importantly, by understanding design as an act,
consensus politics. Though not entirely free of paci-
it immediately becomes politically charged because
fying elements, the programmes are located to an
it is actively seeking out uncharted areas, and new
exceptional degree on the politicising side.
horizons and modalities of sensory experiences.19
6
This paradigm is not limited to the debate over
Acknowledging the recent shift in the debate
participation and politics but has also entered archi-
on design practice toward ethical considerations,
tectural discourse under the disguise of a suspicious
the deliberate choice of using and developing
‘discontent’ with criticality, abandoning the project
Rancière’s spatiality of equality aims to highlight the
of radical critique as a blanket negation of the
political dimension of design and architecture, which
political;
moreover, it has also entered the urban
to date has not been sufficiently elaborated,20 and
discourse in a broader reflection on democracy
also to elucidate how questions regarding the poli-
and inclusion. However, as architecture is slowly
tics of aesthetics and the aesthetics of politics can
re-engaging in a new critical project that allows the
be framed, with reference to what Rancière called
political and social natures of the practice to be
le partage du sensible. This concept describes the
reclaimed, it is crucial to expand such rediscovery
many procedures by which forms of experience –
to include the inherently political nature of space,
broadly understood as the domains of what can be
which is – contrary to the dominant discourse on
thought, said, felt or perceived – are divided up and
participation, which treats it as fundamentally
shared among legitimate and illegitimate persons
consensual and homogenises differences – neces-
and forms of activity. Similarly, aesthetics is defined
sarily produced in contestation and dissensus.
as ‘a delimitation of spaces and times, of the visible
9
10
11
and the invisible, of speech and noise’,21 while poli When applied to the current debate on urban and
tics is seen as never static and pure but instead
architectural design, this essay fits into a renewed
characterised by division, conflict and polemics that
reflection on the expansion of architectural discipli-
allow the invention of the new, the unauthorised
nary boundaries,12 which deliberately contests the
and the disordered. In this light, artistic practices
43
(thus including architecture and space) are forms
than the exercise of power or the struggle for power, is
of visibility that can themselves serve as inter-
the configuration of a specific world, a specific form of
ruptions of the given partition of the sensible. For
experience in which some things appear to be political
this reason, work on aesthetics is work on politics
objects, some questions political issues or argumenta-
since it embraces a set of exclusions, a set of items
tions and some agents political subjects.24
that are not simply unsaid, unseen and unheard as such, but instead withdrawn from appearing
Consequently, choosing the case study Baan
because they are implicitly deemed unworthy or not
Mankong and Asian Coalition for Community Action
entitled to appear. Rancière’s theorisation is rele-
(ACCA), comes very naturally. For Rancière, polit-
vant here because it allows for a material, sensorial
ical struggle occurs when the excluded seek to
and concrete formulation of politics, political partici-
establish their identity by speaking for themselves
pation and emancipation. Even though Rancière
and striving to get their voices heard and recog-
did not discuss architecture per se, he was greatly
nised as legitimate, thus disrupting the specific
inspired by Aristotle’s and Plato’s reflection on the
horizon and modalities of sensory experience.
polis and its central reference to a political space
A struggle of this kind is evident in some of the
as a reconfiguration ‘where parties, parts, or lack of
marginalised communities in Bangkok and other
parts have been defined.’ His claim that ‘[p]olitical
South-East Asian cities, which have leveraged
activity […] makes visible what had no business
collective resources as bargaining power to claim
being seen, and makes heard a discourse where
politically legitimate participation in their develop-
once there was only place for noise’
remains
ment. The case of Baan Mankong/ACCA is truly
heavily illustrative for architecture and urban design.
novel; it approximates Rancière’s idea of equality
Moreover, by illustrating a spatiality of equality, we
because the group locates the agency of change
show that Rancière’s basic assumption, the equality
with the excluded, thus enacting a fundamental
of intelligence, (borrowing Hallward’s summary
break with conventional participatory development
‘everyone thinks, everyone speaks […], but the
practice.25 In addition, the programmes are experi-
prevailing division of labour and configuration of
menting with a novel and potentially radical version
society ensures that only certain classes of people
of an older architectural concept: community archi-
are authorized to think’) is pertinently enlightening
tecture, which is crucially reforming the role of the
in the debate over participation on a wider urban
design practitioner, and therefore provides the
scale and in the struggle for democracy. Together,
ideal empirical reality from which we can attempt
these two dimensions of Rancière’s work make
to elucidate the critical relationship between the
him an indispensable reference in the discussion
presupposition of equality and design, and there-
of participatory urbanism, which is why we have
fore between participatory urbanism and the politics
employed it as the theoretical backdrop that guides
of recognition.
22
23
our search for a more socially just design practice. To use Rancière’s words:
Rancière’s ontology and dissensus Rancière’s fundamental political concern is the
[M]y concern with ‘space’ is the same as my concern
denial of recognition experienced by the domi-
with ‘aesthetics’. [...] My work on politics was an
nated. Rancière criticised structuralist Marxists for
attempt to show politics as an ‘aesthetic affair’. What I
upholding the elitist intellectual superiority of the
mean by this term has nothing to do with the ‘aestheti-
philosopher over the worker instead of arguing
cization of politics’ that Benjamin opposed to the
for the need not to interpret, but to listen to the
‘politicization of art’. What I mean is that politics, rather
voice of the excluded as equals.26 Rejecting the
44
Habermasian liberal idea that politics consists of a
but rather to the order of things, to the order of the
rational debate between diverse interests, and the
polis, and therefore to the established social order
Arendtian idea of a specific political sphere and
within a process of governing. Since the demos is
political way of life, in the 1980s Rancière defined
included by nature in the polis, the political problem
what constitutes the essential aspect of politics:
is drastically reduced to assigning individuals their
the affirmation of the principle of equality of speech
place/position through the administration of conflicts
for people who are supposed to be equal but not
between different parties by a government founded
treated as such by the established police order of
on juridical and technical competences.36 In other
the democratic community. For Rancière, ‘proper’
words, a ‘society is […] divided into functions, into
order will always be interrupted by impropriety,
places where these functions are exercised, into
and this notion, despite being focused on critical
groups which are, by virtue of their places, bound
writing and ‘literality’, served to set the stage for his
for exercising this or that function’.37 In contrast,
provocative conception of politics, and his constant
politics in its very essence is constituted by dis-
and insistent defence of democracy as dissensus,
agreement/dissensus, by disruptions of the police
as scandalous.28 Rancière’s innovative thoughts
order through the dispute over the common space
can be understood as a redefinition or recalibra-
of the polis and the common use of language.
27
tion of politics, grounded in those of Arendt and Foucault. Although the limited space available
To name a phenomenon and assign it its ‘proper’
here and the thrust of this essay do not allow for
place is to establish order – thereby an act of depo-
further reflections on the legacy of the Arendtian
liticisation.38 This is exactly the detrimental but
and Foucaultian projects,
it should be acknowl-
interesting use of Rancière’s thought in the debate
edged that Rancière’s analysis of the police relies
over urban poverty, marginalisation and participa-
on Foucault’s definition of power as ‘a complex stra-
tory practices. Slums, marginal areas, low-income
tegic situation in a given society’ and his work on
communities, barrios and so forth are included in
governmentality.30 Here Rancière refers not to the
the police order by their exclusion. Their territories,
‘petty police’ and simple system of domination or
their histories and their societal features, although
inequality, but to ‘an order of bodies’31 making the
neither homogeneous nor reducible to the same
32
police a particular ‘(ac)counting of the community’.
categories, legitimise – participatory – interven-
In maintaining the possibility of emancipation and a
tions. Such co-option of the participatory process
partitioning of such positioning in space, Rancière
to merely replicate and strengthen the established
builds his new, some say utopian,33 notion of poli-
order is made easier through the marginal commu-
tics upon Foucault’s critical reflection on modern
nities that significantly differ from formal areas of the
power.34
city. In Rancière’s approach, this is not a question
29
of politics but of alterations in a police order. The What is important for Rancière, and for our argu-
inclusion of the excluded, which somehow epito-
ment, is not to overlook the fact that an explicit
mised the mantra of the participation debate, is the
focus on the excluded, on the part that does not
wrong way of thinking politically about the issue,
fit in or participate, implies an assumption about
for even exclusion from formal power is a form of
the whole, which could be considered the norm:
inclusion in the police order, (for example, women
a meaningful and peculiar idea of society and its
and slaves in the Greek polis). Politics, therefore,
representation as a symbolic whole.35 Rancière
is not about identifying the ‘excluded’ and trying to
called this police, not referring to repressive forces
‘include’ them. The logic of identification belongs to
45
the police. Politics proper is to question the ‘given’
the fields of perception.
order of the police that seems to be the natural order of things, to question the whole and its partitioned
One of Rancière’s most suggestive and fruitful
spaces, and to verify the equality of any speaking
concepts is le partage du sensible. It refers to the
being to any other speaking being.
way in which roles and modes of participation in a social world are determined by establishing possible
The notion of inclusion, central to the debate on
modes of perception. The partition of the sensible
participation, is rendered as working from the inside-
sets the divisions between what is visible and invis-
out, emanating from the position of those who are
ible, speakable and unspeakable – in Rancière’s
already considered to be democratic, which reveals
words, audible and inaudible. As Rancière explains,
the underlying assumption that democracy can and
such a partition is the system of a priori forms
should become a de facto political reality. As such,
determining what will present itself to sense experi-
we begin to see this trajectory as the construction
ence. It is a ‘delimitation of spaces and times, of the
of a particular police order, becoming a teleolog-
visible and the invisible, of speech and noise, that
ical trajectory toward an already known end-state
simultaneously determines the place and the stakes
in which inclusion becomes an entirely numerical
of politics as a form of experience’.41 Such a defi-
operation. In contrast:
nition is useful to our discourse since distribution implies both inclusion and exclusion in a sensorial
a political moment would not merely entail the inclu-
manner. ‘Sensible’ is therefore both that which can
sion of excluded groups, but rather an inclusion that,
be perceived by the senses and that which ‘makes
through such including, reconfigures the landscape in
sense to think or to do’.42 In this sense:
such ways as to change the conditions under which arguments can be understood, speakers can be
Political activity is always a mode of expression that
acknowledged, claims can be made, and rights can
undoes the perceptible divisions of the police order by
be exercised.39
implementing a basically heterogeneous assumption, that of a part of those who have no part, an assump-
As such, a more democratic production of housing
tion that, at the end of the day, itself demonstrates the
and cities appears to be a practical test of the
sheer contingency of the other, the equality of any
assumption of equality between any and every
other speaking being.43
speaking being. For Rancière, equality is not an end-state but a starting point that requires constant
Equally important for a theorisation of the relation
verification in an open, experimental and non-teleo-
between political struggle and design is Rancière’s
logical logic that operates from the outside-in. If the
work on aesthetics, which he has focused on
police is a set of implicit rules and conventions which
increasingly since the early 1990s. He has written
determine the distribution of roles in a community
a series of works on film and literature in which
and the forms of exclusion which operate within it,
he stresses the political dimension of aesthetics,
then genuine political acts do not simply reorder
and a number of works of political theory in which
relations of power (a different order, but an order per
he argues that an aesthetic dimension is inherent
se) but disrupt this order, tearing bodies from their
in politics. Just as the concept of the partition of
assigned places. This happens when ‘the traditional
the sensible serves to draw together Rancière’s
mechanisms of what are usually called politics are
political-philosophical apparatus, so it also acts as
put into question’. This is dissensus, since it intro-
the lynchpin of his interest in aesthetics when he
duces new subjects and heterogeneous objects into
states that ‘aesthetics is at the core of politics’,44
40
46
especially as aesthetics for him is another name
with common sense – opens up possibilities for new
for the partition of the sensible. For him, artistic
commonalities of sense. In order for the sensible to
practices (despite his direct reference to literature,
be extricated from its usual circuits of meaning and
film and fine art, we can extend it to architecture)
significance, changing from and disagreeing with
are forms of visibility that can themselves serve as
the typical operation of identifying, classifying and
interruptions of the given partition of the sensible.
organising need to happen. Works of art are thus
Therefore, work on aesthetics is work on politics.
the material mechanisms through which ‘the mind
The sensible is a field over which political agree-
can suspend its own constitutive function, thereby
ments and disagreements occur; it is where power
allowing the sensible object to be emancipated from
is held and lost. As such, speaking of the distribu-
the implicit police order of the modern age’.49 The
tion of the sensible is Rancière’s way of speaking
emergence of such an event takes shape as a disa-
about the material conditions of political life in their
greement because it becomes necessary to think
epistemic and communicative salience.45 Central to
ex novo about the rules of a judgement ‘in order
this is the process of becoming a political subject,
to reconfigure the identities, relations, and arrange-
in which those who have no recognised part in the
ments through which positions and arguments
social order, who are invisible or inaudible in political
make sense’.50
terms, assert their egalitarian claim – a collective claim to exist as political subjects. Such a process
The above theoretical artillery, although sketched
has three different dimensions. First, it is an argu-
and partial, is illuminating when examining the
mentative demonstration; second, it is a heterologic
Baan Mankong/ACCA case and the ways in which
disidentification; and third, and most relevant to
it promotes the creation of new commonalities of
this paper, it is a theatrical and spectacular drama-
sense in the name of equality, including the role of
tisation. Space is crucial to this since it becomes
design, since it allows us to rethink how architecture
the creative and dramatic stage for visibility. This
and design are used and to consider the aesthetic
process is theatrocratic because it is creative and
dimensions of our social world in a political way.
constructive and involves not only the manifestation of a new subject but also the construction of
Baan Mankong and the Asian Coalition for
common space or scenes of relationality, which
Community Action
did not previously exist.46 Thus, this dimension of
Part of the network of the Asian Coalition for
theatrical dramatisation goes beyond the single
Housing Rights (ACHR), Thailand’s Baan Mankong
perception of visibility/audibility in that it constructs
Collective Housing Programme, aims to create the
new ways in which parts of society relate to each
conditions for the people who have previously been
other, and reconfigures the way in which subjects
excluded from secure housing to take the lead in the
are heard and seen. ‘Space […] becomes an inte-
process of providing their own secure housing, and
gral element of the interruption of the “natural” (or,
thus it shifts the emphasis from a supply-driven to
better yet, naturalized) order of domination through
a demand-driven housing development, based on
the constitution of a place of encounter by those
the experience that neither the private nor the public
that have no part in that order’.
Here, design
sector has proven capable of meeting the need for
becomes relevant, as this conception of politics
housing in an affordable way. It is premised that the
ascribes to design the potential of instigating ‘the
people in need have a massive potential force for
invention of sensible forms and material structures
taking their housing into their own hands since they
for a life to come’.
Aesthetics rethought as the
have demonstrated this in the past by constructing
invention of new forms of life – as a critical break
their houses informally.51 Contrary to the last
48
47
47
decades, however, this time they are supported to
2000. After the election of a populist government
acquire secure tenure through technical and, more
in 2001, Baan Mankong was announced in 2003,
importantly, financial assistance from the state (in
with a target of creating 300,000 houses as part of
the form of an accessible loan), which enables
a one million home scheme for low-income house-
them to negotiate for land and services on their own
holds.56 By 2011, Baan Mankong had involved
behalf with the backup of a national government
90,813 households in 1546 communities (CODI
programme. With the core objective of addressing
website, 2011). Even though initially less resourced,
the societal misrepresentation of the urban poor
by January 2013 ACCA had managed to gather
as helpless and untrustworthy, this programme
274,000 savers with collective savings totalling US$
reframes the question of poverty alleviation from
22.5 million, and had reached 165 cities/districts in
‘how to train the urban poor or change their behav-
nineteen countries through 1,185 approved small
iour […] to identify how development interventions
upgrading projects, each costing US$ 3000, and
can nurture and develop the strength that already
111 large housing projects, each worth US$ 40,000.
exists, letting people make change’.
The ACCA budget itself constitutes only six per cent
52
of the total project values, with US$ 75.7 million Baan Mankong has emerged from a decade-long experience of community savings, upgrading, and
of land, infrastructure and cash leveraged from governments.57
networking in the face of evictions in Thailand. In addition, it has benefitted from and contributed to
The working principles of demand-driven
a long learning trajectory in Asia through ACHR,
housing development in Baan Mankong
which has been running a programme called ACCA
The basis on which a community forms can vary
(Asian Coalition for Community Action) since 2009
from a group of people living in the same informal
that shares the principles of Baan Mankong. These
settlement who want to upgrade collectively, to a
two programmes should be seen as a cross-regional
collection of people from the same area looking
mobilisation, which ‘is trying to unlock that force at
for new land to purchase. It may also happen
scale, opening up new space, new collaborations
that extended family members join a group. This
and new possibilities that are beginning to resolve
is the moment when the notion of community
these problems’. Nevertheless, Baan Mankong is
becomes relevant to the housing programme. In
unique in that the institution that directly coordinates
this region, community is normally an administra-
and promotes it, the Community Organisations
tive term; however, while keeping the administrative
Development Institute (CODI), is ‘a well financed,
connotation that refers to a territorially connected
national institution with an official policy mandate
settlement, the meaning of community here takes
to secure land tenure for the urban poor’.54
on a second dimension, namely that of denoting a
While building on its predecessor’s work (Urban
social relationship that includes working together
Communities Development Office), this historical
toward a shared aim. A central premise behind the
precedent of high investment into the scaling-up
programme is that practical motives can give rise to
and institutionalisation of such a people-centred
a community that is defined by solidarity and reci-
process to national relevance can be contextualised
procity. This assumption is closely related to one
to a change in public opinion during the last decades
of the cornerstones of the programme’s emancipa-
towards self-sufficiency and greater participation by
tory potential: improving the financial capacity of
civil society.55 Intensified by the financial crisis of
a group and recognising it as a financial agent. A
1997, part of this greater change was the founding
central mechanism geared toward this objective is
of CODI as an independent public organisation in
the establishment of savings groups and a financial
53
48
organisation. A group of individuals can only apply
faced by the urban poor’.60 The theatrical manifesta-
to the programme and become a Baan Mankong
tion of the peoples’ emancipatory potential through
community once they have begun to save collec-
city-wide action remains central, connecting Baan
tively. Although a minimum of organisational support
Mankong participants with many different kinds of
is given from the start, the group can only receive a
actors, such as the local authorities, service deliv-
collective loan once they have saved ten per cent
erers, landowners, as well as NGOs and academia.
of the total amount. The loan can be used for the
‘Instead of the city being a vertical unit of control,
acquisition of collective tenure – whether through
these smaller units – people-based and local – can
land purchase or lease – or for house building or
be a system of self-control for a more creative, more
upgrading purposes. In addition, each community
meaningful development’.61
receives a grant for infrastructure. The loan system works as a revolving fund, which means that
The city-wide survey is also the first step in which
repayments can be lent on to other communities;
communities are supported by community archi-
this makes the system emancipatory rather than
tects, a movement that started in Thailand and then
remaining simply instrumental. ‘[G]roups that can
expanded throughout South-East Asia, becoming
demonstrate the ability to accumulate finance can
even more central in the ACCA programme. Their
also claim the right to be recognized. Such recogni-
presence expresses the paramount role of design
tion is important in multiple ways […] it increases
in Baan Mankong. This movement guides commu-
the likelihood of tenure recognition and access to
nities through the critical spatial components of the
services, and it results in political inclusion as the
process of collectively negotiating secure tenure
state is more interested in making deals with those
and eventually building homes that are tailored to
holding financial resources’.
the needs and aspirations of each, unique commu-
58
nity. By not requiring specific physical outputs, the With regard to land, it is important to note that
programme allows community organisations to take
each community has to negotiate for land itself. In
the lead in their own development. As a conse-
Bangkok, the vast majority of slums are informal
quence, strengthened social infrastructures and
structures erected without observing architectural
systems of management are key outputs. The flex-
or planning standards and regulations, on land
ibility in the mechanism allows dwellers to design
rented from a third-party owner of which ‘a signifi-
their own pathways at their own pace. The prin-
cant portion […] approximately 47%, […] is owned
ciple of self-directed and flexible design thus refers
by the national government’.59 Different types of
not only to the houses and physical communities
landowners pose different challenges, and any
but also to the process itself, including financial
negotiation is usually based on an initial citywide,
regulation. CODI facilitates much of the process
and in Bangkok, district-wide survey, to collect critical
and has a crucial role to play, but the decisions
household and land information and identify stake-
and actions eventually taken depend entirely on
holders. This action usually involves local authority
the people involved, not only the people in the
agents and functions as the first official recognition
community, but also on other stakeholders in their
of the slum dwellers, which in turn stimulates their
local context. In this way, the process is people-
own networking and understanding of shared prob-
centred, not only nominally or in principle, but in
lems and their place in the city: ‘Poverty isolates,
reality. Baan Mankong’s complex process requires,
geographically and socially […]. The survey is the
and is purposefully designed to build many bridges
first step in developing a larger and more structural
and paths for negotiation between communi-
understanding of the city and the various problems
ties and other actors involved, and so can lead to
49
institutional learning. The metaphor of learning to
dimensions: first, the creation of institutions based
‘dance together’ illustrates the beauty and chal-
on relations of reciprocity (with communities); and
lenges implied.62
second, the strengthening of relations between lowincome community organizations such that they can
The logic of physical change: from object to
create a synergy with the state’.65 Hence, what is
subject
seen as crucial for sustainable synergies with the
In Baan Mankong/ACCA, physical change is
state is the collective mobilisation of poor women
conceived and practised as a vehicle for social
and men on scale: from community networking at
change. This gives the physical upgrading of
the city level, to national and even trans-national
informal houses and sites a twofold function: firstly,
levels. While the idea of branching out cross-scale
to improve the material reality of the urban poor
is imprinted on the programme - ‘as new rela-
and, beyond that, to foster confidence in the indi-
tionships with city governments are established,
vidual and collective skills and capacities of this
larger-scale activities are possible’66 - different insti-
historically marginalised group. Such concrete,
tutional scales are considered very strategically. On
visible action manifests and materialises the idea
a city scale, the aim is to activate local government
that people-led development is possible. It shows
resources (in the form of land, services and other
alternative possibilities and transformative poten-
resources), and on a national scale it is to push for
tials to its creators and to others, encouraging those
policy change and wider political recognition.
in similar situations to follow. Moreover, setting this kind of precedent has the power to stimulate local
These actions thereby reposition the city as a
government agencies to engage and collaborate
political entity at the centre of an otherwise de-polit-
in co-production.63 This is an iterative process in
icised urban transformation. In other words, they
which, over time, material improvements reinforce
are an account of Rancière’s ethics and politics
the terms of engagement with different actors and
of recognition. Baan Mankong’s way of conceptu-
vice versa, building up the strength and power in
alising people as the subjects and not the objects
and of the communities. Mr. Prapart Sangpradap,
of development, and of putting them, their energy,
the community leader of Bangkok’s Bang Bua canal
capacity and desires at the centre of the process,
community, which has functioned as a positive
certainly constitutes a novel way of thinking,
example in a number of respects, illustrates these
planning and acting in larger city development
dynamics:
processes. Contrary to conventional strategies of simply providing physical houses – where housing
In Thailand, we have been fighting for a slum law
is treated as a technical rather than political issue –
for 10 years. We mobilized all the communities to
and claiming to engage in participatory processes,
support this bill […] But we never got those rights
the programme’s ambition goes beyond the indi-
and we never got that bill. The way we got our land
vidual house because it is about generating power
and housing and security only happened when we
on the side of historically marginalised people
made concrete change and showed the possibility
through their collective organisation, in order for
by people, showed a new way. We are the ones who
them to freely exercise and expand their rights in the
have to make that change, according to our way. And
city and become legitimate development agents.67
that change becomes its own law.64
When this ethos is scaled up through the promotion of collective partnerships or citywide platforms of
Boonyabancha
the
sharing and collaboration between the urban poor
programme’s ambition as having ‘two underlying
and
Mitlin
summarise
and different stakeholders, it serves the educational
50
and emancipatory purpose of cultivating produc-
for the accommodation of diverse needs.
tive working partnerships with local governments, moving poor people from simply being participant-
Some of the reasons for the limited typologies
‘stakeholders’, to becoming ‘with their savings
can be related to satisfying planning regulations
and the power of large numbers, viable develop-
because it reduces the risk of being refused permis-
ment partners’.
sion when only housing design is submitted.73 As
68
The ambition to create a ‘new
financial system for development’,
in which poor
Boonyabancha says, ‘the art of doing poor people’s
people have access to private funding, is truly being
housing is the art of getting governments to agree
advanced through ACCA and Baan Mankong in that
with your plans, which are always below standard’.74
‘it’s not just a few projects here and there or a few
In the past, non-compliance has sometimes led
solved problems – it is now a system’70 reaching
to imprisonment of community leaders. Different
several hundred thousand households throughout
experiences, however, show that collective action,
Asia. Furthermore, the financial potential embraces
for instance in form of inviting ministers to visit
more than replicability and the coverage of quanti-
communities, sending letters and staging demon-
ties; this is because the finance that comes from the
strations has also led to changes in Thai standards,
people in their everyday struggle to secure housing,
for example the minimum road width and minimum
‘creates its own legitimacy, and the financial systems
plot size were changed. Cost considerations appear
poor people create represent an institutionalization
as the second great reason for limitations in terms
of that power that comes from the ground’.71
of typology. However, our research indicates that
69
savings and improvements could be made during Participatory design in practice
construction through better coordination, sequencing
Despite its vast potential, CODI’s spatial discourse,
and pooling, and also if community members had
whereby communities drive design, has not
a better understanding of design and implemen-
reached a consistent response at an urban scale
tation and were more involved in the process.
beyond the mere provision of houses. The design
Illustratively, several site-briefs that were issued by
solutions implemented as a result of the preceding
the communities during fieldwork addressed issues
processes are usually based on typologies. While
in the construction stage (cost saving/recycling/use
the ownership and planning of the site are collective
of common space/continuous engagement of all
and community-based, once tenure is secured, the
members). Similar responses have been given to
design and aesthetics of the houses are more indi-
Archer, who researched the post-construction opin-
vidualistic. Depending on ability, financial capacity
ions of Baan Mankong’s participants and found that
and time constraints, the design of the communi-
even though perceptions differed between and even
ties and houses take different forms, sometimes
within communities, many problems rested on the
one typology is decided upon for a whole commu-
built environment: ‘problems remain with infrastruc-
nity, and sometimes the house typologies differ.
ture and the environment, with garbage and smells
Yet, the predominant focus centres on typologies
from the canal and drains’.76 Furthermore, individual
rather than on developing and questioning design
perceptions of problems range from ‘insufficient
outcomes. Although ‘fluctuation of resources across
outside lighting’, the loss of the natural environ-
various CODI sites suggests a range of house
ment, and ‘it’s better and neater, but before there
sizes, design standards and overall planning, some
was more privacy’, to ‘the culture of helping has
communities simply seem to be benefiting from
decreased’.77 In general, cost and time are often
greater attention’72 and others simply copy. This
mentioned as limiting conditions, or even as severe
standardisation, however, implies serious problems
problems, for several reasons, the major one being
51
that the process is so time and energy consuming
decisions, but ones that open up a dialogue, chal-
that even without an in-depth design process many
lenging the current system and becoming a driver
people drop out, or that those who are in urgent
of change? The critical reflection on design that
need of housing after incidents such as fire have to
the programme is prompting also involves the role
accept that the ‘housing design is flawed’ because
of the designer. In the Baan Mankong process,
they were limited by the budget.
community
78
Yet the ACCA
architects
provide
the
knowledge
experience tells that ‘paradoxically, the lower the
needed to make decisions and guide the conversa-
budget, the more seems to get done’79 insofar as
tion, thereby presenting possibilities. The combined
it pushes people to focus less on money and more
factors of high densities, complex savings, and pre-
on structural problems, enabling them to become
construction preparation (while avoiding temporary
active and to begin working together, so that ACCA
housing solutions for cost reasons) require complex
now follows a logic of ‘de-emphasiz[ing] the budget
sequencing and coordination. Currently, the key role
aspect’.80
of the design professional in Baan Mankong seems to be the translation of aspirations and negotiations
Another important reason why communities often
between households into a site master plan. This
choose only one typology is to show their strength
lays out the critical path for communities to upgrade
and community cohesion through visual integration
or build anew. Yet, due to the sheer number of sites
with the wider city. In line with the research find-
in the programme, the involvement of the commu-
ings of Wissink et al.,81 which show that regardless
nity architect is greatly reduced after this stage,
of income group, Bangkok’s residents appear to
with, at times, not even a yearly visit. More often
want to live in gated communities, the choice of a
than not, the building typology and design product
single typology can be interpreted as a desire for
are based on prototypes and the quality is uneven
the community to be ‘orderly and beautiful, much
across different communities. Since the architect is
like a moobarn jatsan (gated estate), reflecting
often unable to identify and present the full spec-
their new legal status as city residents. Thus, they
trum of possible options so that the community
favour identical facades and equal plot sizes, to
can determine its priorities, the choice of available
meet the standard of social acceptability’.82 Archer
housing typologies made available is detrimental
counters that equal plot sizes minimise resentment
to the urban design scale and densities on site.
among community members and that row houses
It seems that design in this context is restrictive
in contexts of land limitations are the most effective
rather than revelatory of new spatial interpreta-
form of land use.83 This issue recalls a well-estab-
tions. Working with prototypes and the very limited
lished debate in the fields of architecture and urban
involvement of designers/architects is a potential
design, in which authors have always challenged
block to the transformative potential of the Baan
the physical determinism and utilitarian, functionalist
Mankong programme, because it narrows down a
perspectives embedded in a particular definition of
process and thereby renders it unnecessarily static.
design: the materiality of space as a social healing
Seldom are bespoke solutions developed, usually
machine, a panacea for society’s ills.
only on sites with particular constraints, such as very high density. If communities were more
Community architects: a transformative
engaged in the design process this would produce
potential
knowledge, create additional communication and
What is the potential role of design in moving toward
place designers as facilitators in the decision-
a process and product in which spatial dimensions
making process.
are not merely by-products of social and institutional
52
Another challenge posed by real-life practicality
While the question remains whether the design
is to find a productive balance in community nego-
process has more to offer than has been explored
tiations, decision-making and actions. There are
so far, without doubt:
certain stages in the programme in which consensus is reached, which plays an important role as a
The community architects have opened up a whole
practical benchmark from which to move forward:
new world of community planning […] Before, the
moments such as closing site negotiations for
only picture people had in their minds when you said
shared ownership or ‘being ready’ to start construc-
‘housing for the poor’ was the standard government
tion, based on an agreed design and plan. These
box, [...] But when the community architects come …
are moments when capabilities, support and power
that process is so important in expanding people’s
are acquired through the strength of the community
ideas of what is possible with housing – even very
members acting together. The more frequently this
low-cost housing.88
includes all members, the more it represents the solidarity with which to move forward. This is evident,
As
for instance, when communities put mechanisms in
Boonmahathanakorn and Domingo-Price have
place to support those struggling to meet the targets.
identified, ‘[w]here communities sometimes have
To use Rancièrian vocabulary, the political actions
set notions of how development can be under-
84
are ‘organised like a proof, a system of reasons’.
taken conventionally (for instance by bulldozing
Verifications take place by transforming the words
trees and flattening out the area in order to develop
of universal equality into the form of logical proof,
a housing site), community architects could help
not simply through a transformation of words into
demonstrate new approaches, with people-centred
actions but by the creation of a visible and audible
and environmentally friendly aspects’.89 However,
set of arguments.
The reality that communities
this dimension of influencing community ideas
are not homogeneous groups but are necessarily
is very delicate, since Baan Mankong/ACCA’s
defined by internal diversity, means that a contin-
highest principle is not to overly determine commu-
uous process of argumentation is required. While
nity decision-making processes. In this light, they
conflicts between individuals can be considered
have identified substantial challenges in creating
as something that needs to be settled, in our view
community architecture because, on the one hand,
conflict within a group can and should be reframed
they have to strike a balance between a visionary
as something fruitful if used as a catalyst for polem-
approach that increases the knowledge of what is
ical verification. Conceptualising consensus as only
possible, while on the other hand, the professionals
temporary, based on joint visions at a particular
have to relinquish their belief in their superior knowl-
moment in time,86 enables us to consider conflict
edge and, in its place, humbly learn to appreciate
and dissensus as something natural that society or
local knowledge, which is not always an easy or
groups of people need to learn to deal with and use
straightforward process. An interesting observa-
productively. It is therefore necessary to move from
tion is that young architects appear to have fewer
consensus back into dissensus, especially in the
difficulties in assuming the facilitative role and are
realm of design and spatialities, thus increasing the
also more readily accepted by communities. This
potential for innovation. Although the experience of
resonates with our belief in the centrality of a recon-
community architects identifies the positioning of
figured design methodology:
85
the self in such an internal conflict as one of the big challenges, a positive reframing of conflictive situations might generate benefits.87
the
community
architects
Luansang,
53
If the demand for trained architects is increasing,
that initial mapping activities are already used to
methods of support for architects practicing ‘partici-
instigate more holistic concerns: ‘The process of
pation’ are essential. […] Furthermore, it becomes
mapping itself also provides a good starting point
essential how they can better define their identity and
for all community members to reflect on how they
roles so as to not be marginalised or misappropriated
live in the community, how things relate to one
by lesser convicted and qualified practitioners. Herein,
another both socially and physically, and to identify
there still exists a critical responsibility to cross-check
the common community problems’.95 Furthermore,
even the most genuine of practices. If this is done
the focus of design guidelines could be diversified
so, strategically with internal vigour, the program can
to go beyond the issue of re-blocking and embrace
grow to maximize the potentials and efforts of all those
principles concerning the site in the city, addressing
involved.90
dimensions of connectivity, public spaces, inclusivity and diversity. While such aspects are occasionally
Baan Mankong/ACCA’s approach of involving
considered, a more explicit, consistent and detailed
universities and their curricula into their work is
concern for the identification of context-specific
advancing this notion considerably. This policy led
needs as well as opportunities could yield more
to the formation of the Asian Community Architect
adequate spatial representations of this impres-
Network (CAN) in 2010. Today, CAN links twenty-
sively flexible and open process.
seven groups of young community architects in eighteen countries, and thirty-three universities in
What struck us as researchers was the great
ten countries. In doing so, it has reached out to
need for rental accommodation that exists for
about one thousand students and young profes-
various reasons, mainly related to rural-urban labour
sionals. A promising potential for design facilitation
migration. For instance, in the case of Bang Prong,
would be a debate on housing – a debate out of
a district in the province of Samutprakan, but within
which an understanding of the context-specific
the Bangkok Metropolitan Region, informal housing
relationship of housing to other aspects of life
mostly consists of informal renting. Many people
could collectively emerge: one in which housing
there cannot, or do not want to join Baan Mankong,
could become more than ‘houses’, approximating
mainly because they do not want to own a house
Turner’s ‘housing as a verb’.
91
‘With only words,
or cannot manage to save enough. At the same
people won’t get the picture; the actual design
time, many landowners are present and prepared to
process drives the community to think and take
negotiate, and the local mayor is supportive of Baan
actions, and eventually makes them understand
Mankong. Innovative design solutions here could be
not only the housing matter but also living and
exemplary in adapting Baan Mankong to the reality
livelihood’.93 It has already been recognised that
of renting, taking advantage of the relative ease of
‘The architects may also create tools to help the
collaboration between landowners, local govern-
people see the bigger picture of their community,
ment and informal dwellers to design inclusive
in the context of the surrounding environment and
developments of shared investment and mutual
the city as a whole, so that they develop solutions
benefit. While an awareness of urban dynamics and
that are complementary to and not isolated from this
their effect on land value is present, this could be
big picture’.94 At the moment this appears to be a
addressed strategically in synergistic collaboration
side-concern within the programme, even though
with different stakeholders.
92
the relationships of the site to the city are crucial for reaching scale. There seems to be space within
Such considerations could bring the city to the
the practical steps of the programme to do so, given
community and open up the community to the city.
54
The built environment should not follow the logic of
fabric of being together.97
the currently dominant development; it should not become an inclusion into mainstream building forms
Not-a-conclusion but a starting point toward an
but be transformative of these, visibly representing
architecture of dissensus
the values, principles and guidelines fundamental
Corresponding to the innovation in community
to Baan Mankong processes, and thus give visible
finance, which grants groups of urban poor recogni-
validation to those ways of life that are finally finding
tion as legitimate development agents, community
acknowledgement through Baan Mankong. What
architecture has the potential to add another dimen-
if community design were to propose new ways of
sion to this legitimacy by endorsing previously
building in terms of density, quality, sustainability,
‘unheard’ ways of doing things. The two strate-
affordability, productivity, flexibility, contingency and
gies are intertwined in multiple ways, not least
scale beyond the property lines of the site, and in
through the consolidation of ideology and desired
doing so question predominant forms of city devel-
forms of life, and therefore reinforce each other.
opment? Innovative spatial development could
Architecture as dissensus offers opportunities to
establish the previously excluded/poor in their new
manifest this emerging alternative development
position as legitimate actors in development, and
in society through artistic and design practices
present their informal survival practices as legiti-
that appeal to our perception and alter our sense-
mate practices in the city. Synergistic development
making faculties, stimulating contestation over how
could happen, not only in terms of relationships
we live and how our cities develop. Architecture not
with government agencies but also in terms of
only provides space in which to live but can also
territories within a city. The programme could then
offer new perspectives and open up new horizons
affect a qualitative change in the production and
on how to live. The possibility of living itself can be
appropriation of the city in the name of those newly
inscribed in space. Thus, allegorically speaking,
legitimised development agents. Such steps would
life can be found in spaces due to their usability.
require additional methods for the analysis of
Although it may not necessarily do so, architecture,
conditions and opportunities on the territorial and
as any art form, can give clues about the time in
institutional neighbourhood scale, and for thinking
which we live. If art reflects an experience of life,
ex novo about planning and design - moments in
it can create a feeling of recognition, of finding a
which the broad, knowledge-sharing network of
previously unexpressed feeling or experience finally
Baan Mankong and ACCA could bear additional
expressed, manifested, and by doing so, illuminate
fruits. In this way, politics would be enacted in a
certain societal relations.
very emancipatory moment in which, based on the axiomatic assumption of general equality, the ‘part
It is important to distinguish here between two
of no parts’, the urban poor in this case, dissen-
dimensions of what architecture of dissensus can
sually claim to be part of the whole. Even though
mean in this context. On the one hand, it refers to
rarely emphasised, this logic lies very much within
the way in which community members reposition
the possibilities of the programme: ‘As people
themselves as viable development partners, thereby
tape together house models, push around pieces
interrupting the dominant – fundamentally exclu-
of coloured paper representing scaled house plots
sive – way in which urban development happens.
on a plan and make decisions about the size and
On the other hand, the spatial and aesthetic form
allocation of plots and open spaces, they are giving
that the development takes, and the values that it
physical form to that new social system’, which is
represents, can in themselves represent dissensus
nothing other than a transformation of a sensory
architecture. While the first alone already constitutes
96
55
much of the process of becoming a political subject,
of doing, being and speaking. Their equality is
the second can add a critical edge, becoming an
becoming possible only because they are nominated
act of giving the poor a voice, which for Rancière
as equals and not simply invited to participate.99
is not the same as assigning them a voice through
This becoming central to the urban development
the expert or the literate point of view, but instead
of a city is a political act because it ‘perturbs the
inventing them in order to ascribe them a voice.
order of things [...] creating a new political identity that did not exist in the existing order’.100 Becoming
The question here is how much the built environ-
present in the agenda and in the reality of urban
ment perpetuates an established aesthetic regime
development positions the urban poor – individu-
or, in turn, disrupts it. The process of dissensus
ally and collectively – in a different place from the
design can take different forms: from a conscious
one assigned to them by mainstream development
decision not to intervene physically in the built envi-
practice. It thus constitutes a critique of numerical
ronment, to the production of spaces that explicitly
teleology, offering a political space, or a reconfigura-
challenge
perspectives.
tion of a space ‘where parties, parts or lack of parts
To become evident, then, requires a partage du
dominant,
ideological
have been defined [… making] visible what had no
sensible, which is not a new spatial ordering, but
business being seen, and makes heard a discourse
rather a new ordering of logos, as a way to define who
where once there was only place for noise’.101 The
can speak and participate in the affairs of the polis
emancipatory logic of the Baan Mankong/ACCA
and who cannot. If aesthetics is defined as ‘delimi-
programme repositions space and design away
tation of spaces and times, of the visible and the
from an instrumental way of urban upgrading and
invisible, of speech and noise’ then political design,
towards a process that offers a renewed capacity to
or emancipation through design, is a visualised and
speak, to have an audience, and to overcome social
audible questioning of these delimitations. Whereas
barriers, and in doing so to ‘conjure the commu-
‘design consensus uproots the foundational political
nity of equals by declaring its presence, assuming
impulses that centre on disagreement’,98 design
equality and thus forcing politics to occur’.102
dissensus is the enlivening of these impulses that put forward different urban possibilities. If the lived
Baan Mankong/ACCA is not a simple, participa-
experiences derived from the informal settlement,
tory, design-centred programme. The design idea
from the position of multiple socio-spatial margin-
is being constructed through a more political reflec-
alisation, were to inform the design and extrapolate
tion on design, revealing dissensus, in a Rancièrian
themselves, then the result would be exactly this
sense, as a mechanism for generating strategic
way of life, the way of life of the ‘excluded’ from
coalitions present in a momentary time and context.
the police order, an unprecedented presence that
This addresses the causes of marginality, revealed
would add yet another dimension to the politics of
through a process where ‘design consensus uproots
recognition. We are not in a position here to offer a
the foundational political impulses that centre
recipe for creating dissensus architecture, instead
on disagreement’ and ‘struggles over the real or
we argue for the need to continuously explore and
different urban possibilities’.103 Jacques Rancière’s
elaborate a methodology.
reflections offer a theoretical reconfiguration of design and architecture, laying bare their impurities
The urban poor in Baan Mankong/ACCA are
and non-neutrality while also exposing the inher-
emerging as actors in their own development, their
ently political nature of participation, together with
own history, through an act of decomposition and
its political potential as contestation and dissensus
re-composition of the relationship between ways
in the production of urban form. Ultimately, such a
56
reconfiguration offers to reveal the lines of power
8. Alexandre Apsan Frediani and Camillo Boano,
and agency that are written and rewritten in cities,
‘Processes for Just Products: The Capability Space
and to contest the spatial ordering that assigns
of Participatory Design’, in The Capability Approach,
everyone and everything its proper place.
Technology and Design, ed. by Ilse Oosterlaken and Jeroen van den Hoven (= Philosophy of Engineering and Technology, 5 (2012)), pp. 203-22.
Notes 1. Somsook Boonyabancha, Fr. Norberto Carcellar and
9. Bechir Kenzari, Architecture and violence (Barcelona: Actar, 2011).
Thomas Kerr, ‘How Poor Communities are Paving
10. Nadir Lahiji, ‘Is Building the Practice of Dissensus?
their own Pathways to Freedom’, in Environment
Architecture between Aesthetics and Politics’. Paper
and Urbanization, 24, 2 (Autumn 2012), pp. 441-62
presented at Architecture and the Political, Fourth
(p. 461).
International Symposium on Architectural Theory,
2. This paper is based on a research collaboration
Beirut, Lebanon, 10-12 November 2011, [accessed 04 March 2013].
(CODI), the Asian Coalition for Housing Rights
11. Mustafa Dikeç, ‘Politics is Sublime’, Environment
(ACHR), and the Community Architect Networks
and Planning D: Society and Space, 30 (2012),
(CAN). In particular, it is the result of reflections on
pp. 262-79; Mustafa Dikeç, ‘Immigrants, Banlieues,
the Baan Mankong Housing Programme that have
and Dangerous Things: Ideology as an Aesthetic
emerged in the course of three research projects by
Affair’, Antipode, 45, 1 (2013), pp. 23-42; Purcell, The
two of the DPU’s Masters programmes (MSc Building
Down-Deep Delight of Democracy.
and Urban Design in Development and MSc Urban
12. C. Greig Crysler, Stephen Cairns and Hilde Heynen,
Development Planning), which took place in 2011,
‘Introduction’, in The SAGE Handbook of Architectural
2012 and 2013 in Bangkok, where several commu-
Theory, ed. by C. Greig Crysler, Stephen Cairns and
nities at different stages of implementation were
Hilde Heynen (Cornwell: SAGE Publications, 2012),
involved. 3. Mark Purcell, The Down-Deep Delight of Democracy (London: Blackwell-Wiley, 2013). 4. Slavoj Žižek, The Ticklish Subject: The Absent Centre of Political Ontology, (London: Verso, 1999); Chantal Mouffe, On the Political (London: Routledge, 2005).
pp. 1-38. 13. Reinhold
Martin,
Utopia’s
Ghost
(Minneapolis;
London: Minnesota University Press, 2005); Jeremy Till, Architecture Depends (Cambridge, Mass., MIT Press, 2009). 14. Ole
W.
Fischer,
‘Architecture,
Capitalism
and
5. Bill Cooke and Uma Kothari, Participation: The New
Criticality’, in The SAGE Handbook of Architectural
Tyranny?, (London; New York: Zed Books Ltd, 2001);
Theory, ed. by C. Greig Crysler and others, pp. 56-69.
Markus Miessen, The Nightmare of Participation
15. Henry Sanoff, Community Participation Methods in
(Berlin: Sternberg, 2010); Ronan Paddison, ‘Some
Design and Planning (New York: Wiley, 2000); Henry
Reflections on the Limitations to Public Participation
Sanoff, ‘Multiple Views on Participatory Design’,
in the Post-Political City’, L’Espace Politique, 8, 2
International Journal of Architectural Research, 2, 1
(2009), < http://espacepolitique.revues.org/1393 >
(2007), pp. 57-69; Jaime Hernandez-Garcia, ‘Slum
[accessed 01 August 2013]; Gui Bonsiepe, ‘Design
Tourism, City Branding and Social Urbanism: the Case
and democracy’, Design Issue, 21, 2 (2006), pp. 3-12.
of Medellin, Colombia’, Journal of Place Management
6. Paddison, ‘Some Reflections on the Limitations to
and Development, 6, 1 (2013), pp. 43 – 51.16. Kurt
Public Participation in the Post-Political City’. 7. Ibid.
Iveson, ‘Cities Within the City: Do It Yourself Urbanism and the Right to the City’, in International Journal of
57
Urban Research, 37, 3 (2013), pp. 941-56.
The Political Unconscious of Architecture. Re-opening
17. Margit Mayer, ‘First World Urban Activism: Beyond
Jameson’s Narrative (Farnham, Surrey; Burlington,
Austerity Urbanism and Creative City Politics’, City, 7,
VT: Ashgate, 2011). On the other side, development
1 (2013), pp. 5–19.
practitioners have gone through a reflexive, critical
18. Purcell, The Down-Deep Delight of Democracy.
rediscovery of architecture and design, experimenting
19. As Ettore Sottsass eloquently commented in the late
with a new pragmatic radicalism oriented toward more
1960s, ‘design is a way of discussing life…of discussing
sophisticated outcomes achieved with an emphasis
society, politics, eroticism, food and even design. At
on design (see Pierluigi Nicolin, ‘Architecture Meets
the end, it is a way of building up a possible figurative
People’, Lotus International, 145 (2011), pp. 12-14;
utopia or metaphor about life’ (Paola Antonelli, ‘States
Beyond Shelter. Architecture and Human Dignity, ed.
of Design 04: Critical Design’, Domus, [Accessed 21 February 2013]). Hence,
innovations and a clear emphasis on agency, the polit-
design becomes a condition of possibility in which excess rudely intrudes into otherwise ontologically and politically stable orders, allowing what was previously invisible or unheeded to emerge within a societal and political realm.
ical dimension remains unquestioned. 21. Jacques Rancière, Hatred of Democracy, (London: Verso, 2006), p. 13. 22. Jacques
Rancière,
Disagreement:
Politics
and
Philosophy, trans. by Julie Rose, (Minneapolis:
20. This recent shift in architectural, design and develop-
University of Minnesota Press, 1999), p. 30.
ment debates seems to have two angles. On one side,
23. Peter Hallward, ‘Jacques Rancière and the Subversion
design practitioners are searching for a specific ethical
of Mastery’, in Jacques Rancière: Aesthetics, Politics,
role by investigating the complexities of architecture
Philosophy,
and urbanism. This shift comprises designing spaces,
Edinburgh University Press, 2005), pp. 26-45 (p. 26).
ed.
by
Mark
Robson
(Edinburgh:
places and interventions that enable socially just
24. Jacques Rancière, ‘The Thinking of Dissensus:
development, produce alternative means of engage-
Politics and Aesthetics’, in Reading Rancière: Critical
ment, and reconsider citizenship and participation
Dissensus, ed. by Paul Bowman and Richard Stamp
(see Ann Thorpe, ‘Design as Activism: A Conceptual
(London; New York: Continuum, 2011), pp. 1-17 (p. 7).
Tool’ presented at the Changing the Change, Turin,
25. The Community Organisations Development Institute
Italy, 2010; Carl DiSalvo, ‘Design, Democracy and
(CODI) was established in July 2000 as a public
Agonistic Pluralism’, in Proceedings of the Design
organisation under the Ministry of Social Development
Research Society Conference, Montreal, (2010),
and Human Security in Thailand following the merge
[accessed 06 August 2013];
(UCDO) and the Rural Development Fund (see
Alastair
Beautiful
Somsook Boonyabancha, ‘A Decade of Change: From
Strangeness for a Sustainable World (London:
Fuad-Luke,
the Urban Community Development Office (UCDO) to
Earthscan,
2009);
Design Thomas
Activism,
‘The
the Community Organizations Development Institute
Disruptive Aesthetics of Design Activism: Enacting
Markussen,
(CODI) in Thailand: Increasing Community Options
Design Between Art and Politics’, in Making Design
Through
Matter, Nordes, the 4th Nordic Design Research
Programme’ IIED Working Paper 12 on Poverty
Conference, 29-31 May 2011, School of Art and
Reduction in Urban Areas (2003), pp. i-36). CODI is
Design, Aalto University, Helsinki, pp. 1-9; < http://
the outcome of a long-standing public commitment
ocs.sfu.ca/nordes/index.php/nordes/2011/paper/
to urban and rural development by the national Thai
view/406 > [accessed 07 August 2013]; Nadir Lahiji,
government, which preceded the United Nations
a
National
Government
Development
58
Millennium Development Goals Declaration and their
alternative to Marxism, especially after his break with
associated targets. Set up in 1992 with a nationwide
Althusserian structuralism and philosophy due to its
government initiative and its implementing and coordi-
elitism. He rejected the rigid and hierarchical distinc-
nating agency, UCDO had the explicit aim to address
tion between science and ideology that this philosophy
urban poverty after Thailand’s economic success
presupposed, accusing it of distrusting spontaneous
during the 1980s and early 1990s had brought little
popular
benefit to the poorest groups. It is dedicated to the
approach, he turned instead to the archive in the form
transformation of the living conditions of the urban
of an intellectual history of labour. This was an attempt
poor, and their relationships with the state and the
to recover the virtue of ‘the worker’ by showing that
private sector through ‘build[ing] a strong societal
workers resist not merely the hardship of work but the
base using the collective power of civil groups and
very system that confines them to the role of worker
community organizations’ (CODI website, ‘CODI
in the first place (Samuel A. Chambers, ‘Jacques
Results: Statistics January 2011’
Rancière and the Problem of Pure Politics, European
Journal of Political Theory, 10, 3 (2010), pp. 303-26).
[accessed 26 February 2013]. Guided by the premises
In this, he discovered the ‘disorder’ of the nineteenth-
of ‘unlocking people energy’ (Somsook Boonyabancha,
century French workers and their refusal to play the
‘Unlocking People Energy’, in Our Planet: The maga-
part they had been assigned to, thus breaking down
zine of the United Nations Environment Programme,
the Platonic legacy and centrality of ‘order.’ In this
16, 1 (2005), pp. 22-3) and placing people as subjects,
respect, Rancière believes that the role of the philoso-
rather than objects, of development, it supports and
pher is not to give his/her voice to the silent aspirations
empowers urban and rural community organisa-
of the dominated, but to add his/her voice to theirs,
tions through financial assistance and skills training
therefore, to hear their voices, rather than interpret
in the process of housing development. In addition,
them. These notions were further developed in works
ACHR was formed in 1988 as the first platform for the
like The Philosopher and his Poor (Durham: Duke
exchange of knowledge and experience by different
University Press, 2004).
urban activist organisations in the Asian region. They
27. Jacques Rancière, ‘Ten Theses on Politics’ Theory
aimed to advance housing rights and tackle urban
& Event, 5, 3 (2001) < http://muse.jhu.edu/jour-
poverty in a context of increasing forced evictions.
nals/theory_and_event/v005/5.3ranciere.html
While initially focused on forced evictions, a DFID grant allowed for capacity-development towards a regional intervention process. Since 2000, ACHR
>
[accessed 05 January 2013]. 28. Samuel A. Chambers, ‘Jacques Rancière and the Problem of Pure Politics’.
has been working with community savings and the
29. Andrew Schaap, ‘Hannah Arendt and the Philosophical
model of the Community Development Fund. In some
Repression of Politics’ in Jacques Rancière and the
countries, ACHR receives support from governments
Contemporary Scene. The Philosophy of Radical
whereas in others it has managed to up-scale its
Equality, Jean-Philippe Deranty and Alison Ross
programmes independently. The Asian Coalition for
(London: Continuum, 2012), pp. 145-166; Reading
Community Action Programme (ACCA) is the culmi-
Rancière, ed. by Bowman and Stamp.
nation of ACHR’s efforts and in the three years it has
30. Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality, Vol. 1:
been running, 2010 – 2013, it has reached 165 cities
An Introduction, trans. by Robert Hurley (London:
in 19 countries (ACHR website: ‘About ACHR’,
[accessed 18 July 2013]). 26. Though Rancière shares some common ground with other Left-leaning thinkers who sought an
31. Rancière, Disagreement: Politics and Philosophy, p. 29. 32. Rancière, ‘Ten Theses on Politics’.
59
33. Maria Muhle, ‘Politics, Police and Power: From
(London: Continuum, 2010), p. 22.
Foucault and Rancière’ (unpublished paper presented
41. Jacques Rancière, The Philosopher and his Poor,
at the Jan Van Eyck Akademie, Maastricht, 8th
trans. by John Drury, Corinne Oster and Andrew
November 2007); Reading Rancière, ed. by Bowman
Parker, ed. by Andrew Parker (Durham: Duke
and Stamp.
University Press, 2004), p. 13.
34. Not surprisingly, like many other postwar French speaking intellectuals who worked on language as a place where ‘perilous crossings of epistemic thresh-
42. Purcell, The Down-Deep Delight of Democracy. 43. Rancière, Disagreement: Politics and Philosophy, p. 30.
olds leave their material traces (Rey Chow and Julian
44. Jacques Rancière, The Politics of Aesthetics: The
Rohrhuber, ‘On Captivation: a Remainder from the
Distribution of the Sensible, trans. by Gabriel Rockhill
Indistinction of Art and Nonart’ in Reading Rancière,
(London; New York: Continuum, 2006) , p. 13.
ed. by Bowman and Stamp, pp. 44-72 (p. 33)), one
45. J. M. Bernstein, ‘Movies and the Great Democratic
of the major influences on Rancière is Foucault’s The
Art form of the Modern World (Notes on Rancière)’, in
Archaeology of Knowledge (1972). Rancière seems
Jacques Rancière and the Contemporary Scene, ed.
to continue with the Foucaultian explorations of the subterranean discursive strata that underline knowledge formations, stressing the silent witness of history
by Deranty and Ross, pp. 15-42 (p. 269). 46. John Holloway, Change the World Without Taking Power (London: Pluto Press, 2005).
whose anonymity and wordless speech continue as
47. Mustafa Dikeç, ‘Space, Politics, and the Political’,
a form of participation and partaking. Rancière also
Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 23
continues with Foucault’s politics and ethic through his
(2005), p. 172.
focus on equality, justice and disagreement.
48. Rancière, Disagreement: Politics and Philosophy,
35. Mustafa Dikeç, ‘Police, Politics, and the Right to the City’, GeoJournal, 58, 2-3 (2002), pp. 91-8.
p. 29. 49. Bernstein, ‘Movies and the great democratic art form
36. Giuseppina Mecchia, ‘The Classics and Critical Theory
of the modern world’, p. 25.
in Postmodern France: The case of Jacques Rancière’
50. Ruez, ‘“Partitioning the Sensible” at Park 51’, p. 2.
in Jacques Rancière: History, Politics, Aesthetics, ed.
51. Boonyabancha, Carcellar and Kerr, ‘How Poor
by Gabriel Rockhill and Philip Watts (Duke University
Communities are Paving Their Own Pathways to
Press, 2009), p. 77.
Freedom’, p. 443.
37. Jacques Rancière, ‘Xénophobie et politique, entretien avec Jacques Rancière’ [Xenophobia and politics, talks with Jacques Rancière], in La xénophobie en banlieue,
52. Ibid., p. 444. 53. Ibid., p. 441; Boonyabancha, ‘A Decade of Change’, p. 15.
effets et expressions, ed. By Florence Haegel, Henri
54. Asha Ghosh and Lalitha Kamath, ‘Decentralisation
Rey and Yves Sintomer (Paris: L’Harmattan, 2000),
and Local Government Innovation in Providing Urban
p. 215, cited in English from Mark Angélil and Cary
Services for the Poor in South and South-East Asia’
Siress, ‘The Paris Banlieue: Peripheries of Inequity’,
Space and Polity, 16, 1 (2012), pp. 49-71 (p. 59).
Journal of International Affairs, 65, 2 (Spring/Summer
55. Diane Archer, ‘Baan Mankong Participatory Slum
2012), pp. 57-67 (p. 64).
Upgrading
38. Dikeç, ‘Police, Politics, and the Right to the City’.
in
Bangkok,
Thailand:
Community
Perceptions of Outcomes and Security of Tenure’,
39. Derek Ruez, ‘“Partitioning the Sensible” at Park 51:
Habitat International, 36 (2012), pp. 178-84.
Rancière, Islamophobia, and Common Politics,’
56. Ibid.
Antipode 45, 5 (2012), p. 15.
57. ACCA website, ‘Home’, < http://www.achr.net/ACCA/
40. Jacques
Rancière,
Dissensus
on
Politics
and
Aesthetics, trans. and ed. by Steven Corcoran
ACCA%20home.html > [accessed 18 July 2013]. 58. Somsook Boonyabancha and Diana Mitlin, ‘Urban
60
Poverty Reduction: Learning by Doing in Asia’, Environment
and
Urbanization,
24,
2
(2012),
pp. 403-21 (p. 417).
Freedom’, p. 453. 72. William
Hunter,
‘Decoding
Bangkok’s
Pocket-
Urbanization: Social Housing Provision and the Role
59. Ghosh and Kamath, ‘Decentralisation and Local Government Innovation’, p. 70.
of Community Architects’, Archinect (2011) < http:// archinect.com/features/article/25485248/decoding-
60. Boonyabancha, Carcellar and Kerr, ‘How Poor Communities Are Paving Their Own Pathways to Freedom’, p. 447.
bangkok-s-pocket-urbanization-social-housingprovision-and-the-role-of-community-architects
>
[accessed 26 February 2013]
61. Boonyabancha, ‘Unlocking People Energy’, p. 22.
73. Rittirong Chutapruttikorn, ‘Squatter Life in Transition:
62. Speaking is a community member from Iloilo, cited
An Evaluation of Participatory Housing Design’,
in Ruby Papeleras, Ofelia Bagotlo, and Somsook
FORUM
Boonyabancha, ‘A Conversation About Change-
Postgraduate Studies in Architecture, Planning and
Making by Communities: Some Experiences from
Landscape, 9, 1 (2009), pp. 13-30 (p. 19).
ACCA’, Environment and Urbanization, 24, 2 (2012), pp. 463-80 (p. 473); Student Report of the MSc Urban Development Planning on Co-production of Slum-
74. Papeleras,
Ejournal:
Bagotlo
International
and
Ejournal
Boonyabancha,
for
‘A
Conversation about Change-Making by Communities’, p. 476.
Upgrading in Bangkok, The Bartlett Development
75. Ibid.
Planning Unit, University College London, 2012.
76. Archer, ‘Baan Mankong Participatory Slum Upgrading
63. Diana Mitlin, ‘With and Beyond the State –
in Bangkok, Thailand’, p. 180.
Co-production as a Route to Political Influence, Power
77. Ibid.
and Transformation for Grassroots Organisations’,
78. Ibid.
Environment
and
Urbanization,
20,
2
(2008),
pp. 339-60. 64. Papeleras,
79. Boonyabancha, Carcellar and Kerr, ‘How Poor Communities Are Paving Their Own Pathways to
Bagotlo
and
Boonyabancha,
‘A
Conversation about Change-Making by Communities’, p. 465.
Freedom’, p. 451. 80. Papeleras,
Bagotlo
and
Boonyabancha,
‘A
Conversation about Change-Making by Communities’,
65. Boonyabancha and Mitlin, ‘Urban Poverty Reduction’, p. 403.
p. 477. 81. Bart Wissink, Renske Dijkwel and Ronald Meijer,
66. Ibid., p. 404.
‘Bangkok Boundaries: Social Networks in the City of
67. Boonyabancha and Mitlin, ‘Urban Poverty Reduction’.
Mubahnchatsan’, Journal of Environmental Design, 1
68. Boonyabancha, Carcellar and Kerr, ‘How Poor
(2006), pp. 59-74.
Communities Are Paving Their Own Pathways to
82. Chutapruttikorn, ‘Squatter Life in Transition’, p. 19.
Freedom’, p. 445.
83. Archer, ‘Baan Mankong Participatory Slum Upgrading
69. Boonyabancha and Mitlin, ‘Urban Poverty Reduction’, p. 445; Diane Archer, ‘Finance as the Key to Unlocking Community Potential: Savings, Funds and the ACCA
in Bangkok, Thailand’, p. 180. 84. Rancière, Disagreement: Politics and Philosophy, p. 15.
Programme’ Environment and Urbanization, 24, 2
85. Ibid., p. 47.
(2012), pp. 423-40.
86. Caren Levy, ‘Defining Collective Strategic Action Led
70. Papeleras,
Bagotlo
and
Boonyabancha,
‘A
by Civil Society Organizations: the Case of CLIFF,
Conversation about Change-Making by Communities’,
India’, 8th N-AERUS Conference, September 6th- 8th
p. 475.
2007 (London: N-AERUS), pp. 1-29.
71. Boonyabancha, Carcellar and Kerr, ‘How Poor
87. Chawanad Luansang, Supawut Boonmahathanakorn
Communities Are Paving Their Own Pathways to
and Marie Lourdes Domingo-Price, ‘The Role of
61
Community Architects in Upgrading; Reflecting on the
The Insurgent Polis’, p. 25.
Experience in Asia’ Environment and Urbanization 24, 2, (2012), p. 502. 88. R. Papeleras, O. Bagotlo, S. Boonyabancha, ‘A
Biographies
Conversation about Change-Making by Communities:
Camillo Boano, is an architect, urbanist and educator. He is
Some Experiences from ACCA’ Environment and
Senior Lecturer at The Bartlett Development Planning
Urbanization 24,2, (2012), p. 477-9.
Unit, University College of London where he directs the
89. Luansang, Boonmahathanakorn and Domingo-Price,
MSc in Building and Urban Design in Development. He
‘The Role of Community Architects in Upgrading;
is one of the Co-Directors of the UCL Urban Lab. Camillo
Reflecting on the Experience in Asia’ (p. 500).
just published a book titled Contested Urbanism in
90. Hunter, ‘Decoding Bangkok’s Pocket-Urbanization’.
Dharavi. Writings and Projects for the Resilient City, DPU,
91. CAN
London, with William Hunter and Caroline Newton.
[Community
community film
Feb
Architects
architects 2013.
Network],
network
[Online
video]
CAN,
documentary
[accessed 26 February 2013]. Marion Boyars, 1979). [Bang
Bua
community
leader], in CAN, community architects network film
Feb
ed.
2013’,
by
CAN
[Community Architects Network], < https://www. facebook.com/CommunityArchitectsNetwork
>
[accessed 26 February 2013]. 94. Luansang, Boonmahathanakorn and Domingo-Price, ‘The Role of Community Architects in Upgrading’, p. 502. 95. Ibid., p. 506. 96. Boonyabancha, Carcellar and Kerr, ‘How Poor Communities Are Paving Their Own Pathways to Freedom’, p. 461. 97. Jacques Rancière, The Emancipated Spectator, (London: Continuum, 2009), p. 56. 98. Erik
Swyngedouw,
recently she worked as Graduate Teaching Assistant for the MSc in Building and Urban Design in Development at
Sangpradap
documentary
Institute of Sociology at the Technical University Berlin in the field of the sociology of planning and architecture. Until
92. John F. C. Turner, Housing by People, (London: 93. Prapart
Emily Kelling is Lecturer and Research Associate at the
‘Designing
the
Post-Political
City and the Insurgent Polis’, in Civic City Cahier, 5 (London: Bedford Press, 2011) p. 25. 99. Miessen, The Nightmare of Participation. 100. Rancière, Disagreement: Politics and Philosophy, p. 30. 101. Ibid. 102. Purcell, The Down-Deep Delight of Democracy, p. 81. 103. Swyngedouw, ‘Designing the Post-Political City and
the Bartlett Development Planning Unit, University College of London.
62
63
The ‘Diverse Economies’ of Participation Julia Udall and Anna Holder
Introduction: practices and economies of
her ‘ladder’ of levels of participation in 1969. We are
participation
concerned with ‘participation’ as a means for citi-
This paper critically examines the relationship
zens to have real power to shape their environment,
between the practices of participation and participa-
recognising that, depending on each specific case,
tion as economy. In recent years, and particularly in
this may be through citizen control, through dele-
response to the global market failure of 2008 and
gated power, or through working in partnership with
subsequent global recession, the UK government,
local government. We seek to practice participation
in line with those of the US and many in Europe,
with the stated political and ethical aim of striving
has told citizens that resources are scarce in order
for justice and equity. Drawing on the recent ‘Spatial
to pursue the neoliberal policy of ‘austerity’. In this
Agency’ project,5 and discussions of the ‘production
context, where we, as citizens, must ‘do more with
of desires’ by Petrescu,6 we consider participation in
less’, rather than address the unequal distribution of
its diverse forms to be an empowering, transforma-
resources, participation becomes a way to ‘make do
tive force. Participation, in this conception, is a set
and mend’ the urban fabric, both spatial and social.
of practices that seeks to develop and explore the
Participation is diverted from its development as a
desires of communities as well as address diverse
radical ‘redistribution of power’.
needs, and through this process to contribute to
1
2
the productive and reproductive work of spatial The authors of this paper are two women trained
justice. It therefore includes such varied activi-
in architecture and planning, who write, teach and
ties as brief writing, creating networks, protesting,
practice in Sheffield, a post-industrial city in the
claiming, disputing, proposing, repairing, managing,
north of England. Currently, as part of two doctoral
co-researching, governing, caring and building (to
research projects, we are following separate lines
name but a few).
of enquiry into the ‘how and why’ of participation in the production and appropriation of the built envi-
In accounting for participation according to the
ronment in the UK. In this paper, we draw on and
logic of austerity, with the imperative to ‘create
explore the resultant empirical work.3
something out of nothing’, representations are made where on the ‘cost’ side the only thing that is
Participation, understood as citizen power in
accounted for is the ‘real work’ of waged labour. The
the processes of decision-making moving towards
outcomes that are considered to be of value are
‘significant social reform … [enabling those currently
those things that contribute to the market economy,
excluded] to share in the benefits of the affluent
perhaps in the form of gentrification, vision report,
society’ is still as diverse in its methods, means
or local service. The authors of this paper contend
and outcomes as when Arnstein first categorised
that this framing obscures the actions, knowledge
4
13
The Participatory Turn in Urbanism, Autumn 2013, pp. 63-80
64
and social relations of participation which generate
and re-signification (convening activities under the
resources and transformation, and are operating
signifier of community economies).
within other forms of economy, such as care, gifts, co-operatives, volunteering, exchange, lending,
Methodology and structure of the paper
borrowing and gathering.
This paper consists of five parts. Firstly, we position ourselves as researchers and practitioners, and
We draw on JK Gibson-Graham’s critique of the
define participation according to this experience and
stabilising effect of representations of the capitalist
positionality. Secondly, we outline an understanding
economy as singular, homogeneous and envel-
of practice theory as a model for understanding
oping, in order to focus attention on the performative
participation as an element of human action, and
effects of representing participatory practices as
as an impetus for social change. Thirdly, we explore
being part of the market economy. In this paper,
the economies constituted by the production of the
by looking at both the shift over time in policies
built environment, questioning how participation is
and trends in the UK, and closely examining two
accounted for, and what is marginalised or hidden
current instances of participation, we propose to
in relation to Gibson-Graham’s conception of a
represent participation as a constituent of a hetero-
diverse economy. The subsequent section looks
geneous landscape of diverse economies. Through
at the evolution of the practices of the Participatory
exploring this ‘landscape of diverse economies’,
Turn in architecture and urban design, and how they
we aim to draw out the complex relational position
are accounted for as economic activity, drawing
of the unrepresented economies of participation.
attention to the inequalities inherent in how partici-
These run counter to the market economy, but are
pation is practised. Finally, we detail participatory
also interdependent within it.
practices, observed in two cases of contemporary
7
participation, as constitutive of a diverse economy. In this paper we ask: What are the marginalised,
By answering the questions regarding participation,
hidden and alternative economic activities taking
by whom, where, and to do what in these instances,
place, constituted by participatory practices? How
we draw attention to the shifting inequalities and
have these practices evolved in relation to the
the possibilities for equality that these participatory
Participatory Turn in Urbanism, and how are they
practices, represented otherwise, can offer.
accounted for as economic activity? How might accounting for participatory practices as constitu-
The collective voice, the ‘we’ used in this paper,
tive of a diverse economy empower people to fight
is a reflection of our collaborative process, a
against their co-option or exploitation and make
culmination of spoken and written conversations.
these practices more real and credible as objects of
Throughout this paper, we deliberately choose to
policy and activism?
express different forms of our voices. Inspired by JK Gibson-Graham, we write to tell stories of other
In asking these questions, we seek to address
ways of acting, of other economies coexisting within
some of the challenges posed by JK Gibson-
and alongside dominant practices and economy. We
Graham in their 2006 book, The End of Capitalism
write as a performative action, naming and drawing
(As We Knew It),8 which, in order to imagine a
attention to these economies, not as alternatives
world beyond capitalism, invites us to engage in
but as part of multiple, heterogeneous economic
the process of articulation (making links between
ways of acting and interacting that make up the built
activities and enterprises of a diverse economy),
environment.
65
In presenting the cases, in which our under-
interconnected practices is threefold. Firstly, to
standing of theories of practice and economy are
couple actions and activities that make up routine
played out, we speak in the singular first person.
ways of ‘participating’ with the types of knowledge
‘I, Anna’ and ‘I, Julia’, our personal voices that
that enable them, such as motivations, know-how
reflect the engaged and situated role we take as
and understanding. Secondly, to disassociate
researchers personally involved with projects and
actions and activities from being understood only in
people, and constructing knowledge relationally
terms of individual actors or projects, and instead
through this involvement. By ‘telling the story’ in the
see the repetition of ‘performances’ as practices
first person, we present the role of the researcher
which, through their multiple instances perpetuate
as an influence, a voice and a prompt, and in Julia’s
the practice across time and space. Thirdly, to
case, as an actor and catalyst in the project being
recognise that many of the practices that constitute
studied. Allowing ourselves to have both individual
ways of participating politically in decision-making
and collective voices in the paper reflects a view of
and the production of built environment are routine,
knowledge which incorporates reflective storytelling
and are repetitious within and across projects.
as an aid to learning through practise, but one which also wishes to query the researcher role as
In The Practice of Everyday Life, De Certeau
the dominant voice, the storyteller, and so we move
draws attention to ‘everyday practices’, ‘ways of
to a dialogical position, where separate voices can
operating’ or ‘doing things’ in order that they ‘no
be raised, together and independently.
longer appear as merely the obscure background of social activity’ but are instead articulated.10 In
In the concluding section of this paper, the use of
relation to participation, our aim in articulating prac-
‘we’ positions us within a community of practitioners
tices is to move away from a discussion of levels
and activists, who resist the co-option of participa-
of participation and legitimacy within individual
tive work or exploitation and working towards goals
projects and towards an understanding of the
of social justice. ‘We’ add our voices to a conver-
organising, productive and reproductive work that
sation about collective responsibility and ethical
is done when participating in the production of the
practice.
built environment as part of an ongoing process of social change. We wish to attend to the ‘obscure
Conceptualising participation as practices
background’ of participation: the objects, motiva-
‘This economy is not simply an ideological concept,
tions, spaces, skills and access to resources that
susceptible to intellectual debunking, but a materi-
make up participatory practices.
alization that participates in organizing the practices and processes that surround it.9
Practice theory, according to Bourdieu, offers us a way of seeing human activity that pays atten-
Economies shape, but are also shaped by
tion to everyday, individual and collective action. It
participatory practices. Economies are not abstract
suggests an understanding of structure and agency,
entities where money flows as numbers separate
not as the dualism of social norms and free will, but
from the ‘real world’, but are instead interrelation-
as interconnected and recursively reproduced. In
ships between materials, relations and concepts
Bourdieu’s conception, the objects of knowledge
that govern production, exchange, transactions and
are constructed through an active engagement and
distribution. The intention, therefore, in conceptu-
‘practical relation to the world’.11 Elements of human
alising participation as constituted of various and
activity are bundled with knowledge in terms of
66
ways of operating, reasons for acting, and particular
Economies: what is the concern?
‘know-how’ which relate to interacting with people,
We speculate that diverse participatory prac-
objects, and spaces – these are practices.
tices can be seen to constitute diverse economic systems. At present, however, because space itself
All practices have an economic logic and are
is increasingly considered primarily as a financial
constitutive of an economy in the way that they
‘asset’, the practices that seek to shape them are
enact and maintain both social relations and the
also conceived as being part of the market economy.
circulation and redistribution of goods. A ‘second
The dominance of this intertwined understanding of
wave’ of practice theory emphasises its use as a
capitalist economic policies in the production of the
model for better understanding the everyday proc-
built environment is emphasised by Schneider and
esses through which social change occurs13 as
Till:
12
practices emerge, are perpetuated, or disappear. Our purpose in looking at practices as a way to
Today, building activity in modern capitalist socie-
better understand participation is to recognise the
ties, along with the labour of architects and building
possibilities of participation as a force for social
workers are either transformed into, or are produced
change towards the democratic and equitable distri-
as commodities. That is, they become things that
bution of resources, and access to social, spatial,
are created primarily to be bought and sold in the
and economic goods. Recognising a ‘participatory
marketplace. This produces a fundamental shift
turn’ in urban planning as a return to the post-WWII
in the functional and social objectives of building
efforts towards democracy and the redistribution of
production.14
wealth carries with it a realisation that change has been slow in coming. Conceptualising participation
This is a value system based on market growth as
through practices gives us a way of understanding
an unquestionable good, espousing the idea that
processes of change, not as individual intentions or
promoting capitalist enterprise will bring economic
social norms, but as enacted social and economic
dividends to the whole community. As the built
relations.
environment becomes predominantly viewed as quantity, not quality or relation, and is represented
‘Participatory practices’ may overlap with many
in terms of its ability to make money for banks, land
other practices, but at their core is citizen involve-
developers and construction companies, the desires
ment in some form of influence over common goods
and needs of those who use the built environment
or resources that were not previously under citizen
are understood only in terms of how they contribute
control. Participatory practices operate at and
to this market value. The result of this is that build-
between different spatial scales and timescales,
ings become discussed and valued in terms of
from the family home, through places of education
finance, cost, wage labour and financial return on
and work, to the neighbourhood and the state. They
investment, and those resources and practices that
exist in many times, from daily life, through to the
fall outside of this framework become invisible.
life of a project, and through political and generational cycles. We contend that these often-diverse
Post-2008 financial crisis accounts and repre-
practices of citizen action constitute the ‘participa-
sentations of architecture and urbanism that rely
tory turn’. Our next step is to articulate the economic
heavily on participation emphasise its ‘value’ deter-
concern in relation to these participatory practices.
mined by an equation of what is spent in monetary terms divided by what is produced as market value,
67
yet say little, almost nothing, of the people, prac-
If, drawing on feminist and Marxist critiques, we
tices and resources these projects depend upon.
define ‘work’ as ‘the social process of shaping and
Participatory work is often framed as a way to draw
transforming the material and social worlds, creating
‘something out of nothing’, and operate in times of
people as social beings as they create value,’17
scarcity, or in places where budgets are minimal.
we can start to cut the ‘market economy’ down to size. The policies of austerity are revealed as being
What is a ‘diverse economies’ way of seeing?
possible only by relying on hidden work and the value
In their 2006 book, A Postcapitalist Politics,
that this creates in terms of the needs of society.
economic geographers J.K. Gibson-Graham argue
The powerful implication of Gibson-Graham’s alter-
that the way in which we represent the economy
native ‘iceberg’ representation of economies is that
has tangible effects on our own ability and that of
the market economy is ‘kept afloat’ by many other
others to act ethically.
Drawing on Latour, they
forms of economy: black market, emotional work,
warn that we must be more careful about how we
slave labour, care, childbirth, photosynthesis, volun-
multiply, populate, stabilise and discipline the world.
teerism and gifts. Though perhaps not consciously
15
conceived as economic activities by their everyday By presenting Bill Philip’s Monetary National
practitioners, if we reflect, we find we can recog-
Income Analogue Computer as one of the most
nise ourselves taking part in many of these ‘diverse
familiar and powerful of these representations,
economies’ on a regular basis in order to sustain
Gibson-Graham show that capitalism here is hege-
our lives. We can start to ask questions about who
monic: a closed-loop perpetual motion machine in
carries out this work, how they meet our needs, how
which people are positioned primarily as consumers,
surplus is distributed, and therefore create oppor-
growth is the driving force and the market is an
tunities to act. Through an ontological reframing
all-encompassing force. These and other familiar
of economies as diverse, and our roles and rela-
representations portray economic relations as
tions within them as multiple, JK Gibson-Graham
generalisable, and define citizens as having little or
propose that we multiply our opportunities and the
no agency. In Gibson-Graham’s alternative repre-
potential for ethical actions and transformation.
sentation, the diverse economies are represented as an iceberg, with capitalism, wage labour and the
Enclosure and capitalism
market sitting above the waterline, highly visible, yet representing only a fraction of what constitutes
What one person has done becomes the precondition
the ways in which we sustain ourselves and how
of the doing of others […] there are no clear dividing
society is reproduced:
lines. What happens then, under capitalism, is that this flow of doing is broken, because the capitalist comes
Over the past 20 years, feminist analysts have demon-
along and says, ‘That which you have done is mine, I
strated that non-market transactions and unpaid
appropriate that, that is my property.’18
household work (both by definition, non-capitalist) constitute 30–50% of economic activity in both rich
In his entreaty to ‘change the world without taking
and poor countries. […] Such quantitative represen-
power’, philosopher John Holloway reminds us of
tations exposed the discursive violence entailed in
the affect on enclosure and co-option on our prac-
speaking of ‘capitalist’ economies, and lent credibility
tices. We too, do not claim that the co-option of
to projects of representing economy differently.16
work produced through participatory practices is a unique occurrence; its roots lie in the types of enclosure that have dogged other forms of common
68
Fig. 1: Illustration of the economic iceberg. Illustration: author.
69
Fig. 2: Illustration of practices of participation as the hidden supports of building as capitalist accumulation. Illustration: author.
70
resources. Historically, in England, Commons were
different kinds of practices that make-up the way
private spaces over which ‘the commoner’ had
participation is performed. This account concerns
certain rights and access to resources: to gather
the fields of architecture and planning, particu-
wood, to fish, to harvest fruit and to graze animals.
larly professional and citizen forms of action. This
This enabled human survival and regulated rela-
reflects our interests as engaged professionals and
tionships between the community and nature. The
active citizens. We understand these to be loosely
rules of the commons evolved from a form of collec-
gathered as communicative practices, organisa-
tive self-governance and management based on
tional practices, and productive practices.
regular meetings where knowledge and experience of using the resources of a place were shared. This
Communicative participatory practices
was to ensure sustainability of resources, because
With the development and introduction in 1947 of
if too much was taken, or it was taken at the wrong
a comprehensive system for planning in the UK,
time of year, the resource would become scarce and
the possibility for members of the public to partici-
there would be nothing to eat the following year. The
pate in decision-making processes that affect the
enclosure of much of this shared land, and resultant
built environment (beyond their own private prop-
control of resources led to poverty and the crimi-
erty) was initially offered through official Planning
nalisation of people who had previously relied on
Inquiries and Public Meetings organised by Local
what was enclosed for food, fuel or other resources.
Authorities.20 They typically occurred late in the
In his discussions of ‘commoning’, Massimo
process of developing plans or projects, and were
Angelis attests that this process of enclosure of the
designed to facilitate information provision through
commons is not limited to the period of the ‘birth of
one-way communication or limited and controlled
capitalism’ but happens repeatedly. He states that
consultation.21 The planning professionals who
this is because people keep working to reweave the
orchestrated these opportunities for participation in
social fabric, (destroyed by the enclosure of shared
decision-making operated within a rationalist epis-
resources), thus capital, which relies on perpetual
temology: local authority planning could not favour
growth, must find new things to enclose.
the interests of any specific group, but should advise
19
those in power to make decisions based on imparThe evolution of participatory practices in
tial, reasoned analysis of overall public interest. The
architecture and urban planning
practices of public meetings and planning enquiries
In addressing the current state of the participatory
have clearly defined roles for participants, including
turn in architecture and planning, we recognise a
rules of conduct regarding who can speak and
legacy of the reproduction of participatory practices
when, and what type of evidence may be allowed
throughout the fifty or so years since participation
to influence proceedings. As Arnstein notes, when
first became a concern in the built environment
informing and consultation are ‘proffered by power-
disciplines. This brief account of the period from
holders as the total extent of participation, citizens
post-WWII to the present day shows the ways in
may indeed hear and be heard, but under these
which participatory practices have been introduced,
conditions they lack the power to ensure that their
how they are ‘performed’ within contemporary proc-
views will be heeded by the powerful’.22 Participation
esses of production in the built environment, and
is invited according to the terms of the professionals
how their meanings change through repetitions
acting on behalf of the state, and communicative
across time and space, or through ‘enclosure’ by
practices of attending inquiries or public meetings
the market economy. Our account is partial, but
are restricted in the way they may be creatively or
we propose it as a starting place for elucidating the
productively used by the participants.23 Inequality is
71
inherent in the limitations that govern discussions
Productive participatory practices
and processes, which members of the public are
These established, communicative and organisa-
either permitted or not permitted to access.
tional participatory practices were supplemented by actions that moved into productive work.28 By the
Organisational participatory practices
end of the 1970s there was increased local authority
The 1969 ‘Skeffington Report of the Committee
recognition within the UK of citizens’ capacity for
on Public Participation in Planning’ drew critical
self-supported action, and attempts were made to
attention to how much of decision-making in plan-
support this – either financially, through the funding
ning procedures went on ‘behind closed doors’ and
of many small schemes, or bureaucratically, through
pointed out the inequalities inherent in who could
the
participate in decision-making and how.24
power.29
beginnings
of
devolved,
decision-making
In the US in the late 1960s, an alternative model
The self-supported action first established as
for participation in built environment decision-making
an effective model for addressing spatial inequali-
was developing through advocacy organisations
ties has, under a neo-liberal political regime, been
set up in inner cities (which later became the
co-opted with an onus on ‘co-production’, led
Community Design Centers or CDCs).25 This non-
by creative consultants commissioned by local
state, non-profit model provided a locus for tenants
authorities or development bodies. The resources
of poor-quality housing, or housing threatened with
produced through these productive participatory
demolition for new development, where citizens
practices, such as mapping and storytelling, are
could access the professional knowledge necessary
enclosed through the reporting process required
to exert influence through legal channels, or work
from the consultants. The activities are edited and
with professionals to organise and communicate
re-presented according to the requirements of the
in order to effect change through consciousness-
consultants for their commission. These enclosing
raising and resistance.26 Participating in this form of
practices can fix the identities of communities by
organisation had creative and productive potential,
solidifying a moment in time and identifying a small
which involved developing consciousness-raising
number of people as being representative of what
politics through meetings not controlled by state
might actually be a very diverse community.
actors and, importantly, organisational practices that established articulated forms of social relations
Limitations, inequalities
with which to act collectively, and forms which were
Critically, the shift from participating through
able to be propagated by participants. These prac-
practices of deliberation and communication to
tices spread across Europe during the early 1970s,
undertaking productive practices at the local neigh-
predominantly through networks of professional
bourhood level (from involvement in design work
knowledge. The sites of participation shifted away
on urban schemes and individual projects, through
from the established locus of decision-making,
to constructing and mending practices) leaves in
such as the town hall or government offices, and
place clear inequalities. Design consultants invite
instead occupied either the locations in contention
and organise participation according to the terms
for development or change, or locations more easily
dictated by their commissioning bodies, to produce
accessible to those participating, where advice was
legitimacy,
provided about how to operate from within and influ-
activity. The work of those participating (producers
ence the planning system.27
of unwaged work) is limited in terms of the replica-
local
ownership
or
market-valued
tion or growth of productive practices, reliant as it is
72
on the in-built relations of consultants and commis-
more closely at two current cases of participatory
sioners. The move from localised and area-based
action in the UK. Our intention in doing so is to try
participatory practices to a widespread adaptation
to represent in more detail some of the participa-
of the practices of decision-making, organisation,
tory practices in terms of their social, material and
and the production of the built environment, has
spatial form.
been limited. Although public participation ‘exercises’ became legally required as part of local
Participation as practised (at home, in the park,
plan preparation in the 1980s, it became colonised
in the city)
by NIMBYist oppositional practices motivated in
The interview on which this account is based is part
defence of the value of private property. The legal
of a wider case study taken from Anna Holder’s
requirements for an element of citizen participation,
‘Initiating Architecture’ doctoral research project into
without changes in social relations or a distribution
processes of conceiving, commissioning, organising
of resources, made participation ‘ […] another box
and funding participative spatial projects. The study
among many to tick in order to get approval and
uses a multiple-case methodology to describe and
funding […] an organised (and potentially manipu-
learn from four instances of user-initiated spatial
lated) part of any regeneration project, in which
change across the UK.
users are meant to be given a voice, but the process stifles the sound coming out’.30
The following account details the practices undertaken by one citizen participating in a park
By the late 1990s and early 2000s participation
improvement scheme.32 The improvement work for
was accepted as another commodified element
the park, Lordship Rec, was catalysed by a self-
of the consultant’s work package, as a legitima-
organised user group, ‘The Friends of Lordship
tion of design decisions, or as a demonstration of
Rec’, which developed the project in partnership
‘procedural probity’ on behalf of a developer or local
with the local authority, the London Borough of
authority.31 In England, much participation ‘work’
Haringey:
was done as part of the New Deal for Communities (NDC) programme, targeting localised depriva-
The photocopier sits to one side of the small, low
tion through thirty-nine, area-based regeneration
window. The sort of photocopier you have in an
initiatives. One element of the programme was the
office. It takes up space. The pale, wan gleams of
funding of activities to build ‘community’. Alongside
daylight filter in through the curtains, partly blocked
involvement in neighbourhood decision-making
by the large computer monitor. This, along with the
fora, art and design consultants were contracted
keyboard, and piles of paperwork, occupies much of
to involve local participants in creative exer-
the small dining table-cum-desk. To one side, a plate
cises focusing on identity, branding, and public
of toast and beans balances: Dave is eating lunch
art projects. This approach was predicated on an
while telling me about the Lordship Rec project. Over
understanding of areas acting in competition to be
a decade ago, Dave organised a meeting that led to
more ‘vibrant’, so as to offer greater opportunities
the founding of a ‘Friends of’ group in his local park.33
for market transactions.
He describes the recent changes they have undertaken: a skatepark built, a hard court for ball games
A diverse economies account of the practices
laid out, the construction of a building housing a café
of participation
and space for community groups, weeds and over-
In trying to understand what kinds of practices might
grown plants pulled out from around the lake, trees
occur in these diverse economies, we wish to look
thinned from the woodland, earth moved to expose the
73
underground river.
‘The photocopier’. It is important to the work of the Friends that they can
My dictaphone is balanced on the arm of the sofa
keep people informed, that they extend the knowledge
where I sit; Dave’s cat has curled up on my knees.
and opportunities to participate in the politics of the
When I arranged this interview, I had planned to talk
local environment, that a piece of paper goes through
to Dave in the local community centre: now I am in
as many doors as possible. So the photocopier takes
his home, which is also his office, the centre of the
up a lot of space.
organising and communicating work he does with the Friends group. The domestic space of Dave’s home
The above account describes an interview under-
is encroached on, by participating. His living space
taken as research into a particular project involving
is shared with documents that would not be out of
a self-constituted user group working collabora-
place in the offices of the Local Authority Planning
tively with a local authority department to initiate,
Department, or in an architect’s project folder.
raise funds and undertake a range of environmental improvements and building projects. The
A grid of rectangular wooden storage ‘pigeon-holes’
organisations and enterprises Dave is involved in,
takes over one wall of the room. Opposite is a sort of
although requiring initial catalysing and organising,
display-stand for brochures, of the type you might see
exist through a rhythm of meetings, minute-taking,
in a public library. Each storage structure is filled with
agreeing on actions, forming subgroups, and
papers, neatly categorised. Newsletters produced by
reporting back. These participative practices are
the Friends group to keep local residents informed of
not confined to one time and space, one ‘project’,
the decisions and processes surrounding the works to
but exist at different scales within the neighbour-
the park and the public events – these will be delivered
hood and the city, and are ‘carried’ by practitioners
by hand to flats and terraces, as well as pinned on
between different contexts. The know-how, physical
the dedicated noticeboard in the park. Printed copies
activities, mental activities, understanding, moti-
of the surveys done by the Friends – a visual survey,
vational and emotional knowledge involved in the
with annotated photographs of the dilapidation of the
practice of ‘chairing a meeting’, for example, is
park, recorded during their first years of trying to care
performed weekly in meetings of the ‘Friends’ park
for it; a written survey of wildlife species seen in the
user group. Elements will be learned and passed
woodland, undertaken by a knowledgeable amateur;
on from observing other performances of ‘chairing
photocopied flyers of other volunteer-built environ-
a meeting’; for instance, from experiences on a
ment projects in the area; a campaign to save a local
Tenants and Residents Association committee.
shopping arcade from residential development – all
Other elements again will inform how this practice
these opened channels for the learning and knowl-
is performed within the wider group of stakeholders
edge exchange of participative practices.
in the park. When chairing a meeting with the citywide network of ‘Friends’ groups involved in working
My exhaustive interest in how this work happens,
with/caring for green spaces, the practice will inform
coupled with Dave’s deep knowledge and enthusiasm
and be informed by performances of the same prac-
for what he and others are doing, means that we talk
tice in other contexts.
for over an hour. Feeling I have trespassed too much on Dave’s time, I wind up the interview, but ask, finally,
By paying attention to a specific practice Dave
if there is anything important that my questions have
performs in one spatial location and as a single
not covered.
actor, we can look at the paperwork storage relating to the Friends group, the Users Forum, and the
74
citywide Green Spaces Friends Groups network.
common goals. Participants do not receive a wage
This practice is a key part of Dave’s participation
for their time, nor rent for their space. The practices
in the decision-making process for the produc-
of participation are undertaken outside the market
tion of the built environment. Although located in a
economy. The purpose, therefore, of representing
domestic setting, the material elements involved in
Dave’s activities as part of a landscape of diverse
the practice of storing paperwork – the pigeonholes
economies is to draw attention to the opportunities
and leaflet display stand – suggest the performance
for ethical choices, especially around the distribution
of this practice ‘crossing over’ from other loca-
of surplus. Dave is situated in his home, surrounded
tions, the office or the library. Again, this practice
by the reports and products of the project he has
is related to participation in more than one project:
produced. Because of this unique access, he can
storing minutes from the various organisations and
choose to share these resources with others,
materials produced by them, such as surveys and
through taking part in other meetings and offering
newsletters, but also flyers or information about
advice.
other projects similar in terms of spatial area or type of enterprise.
Dave’s motivation seems to combine both a love for and interest in his environment: a desire
Some of the work of participating lies in the
to improve it for himself and others, together with
recording of knowledge and the use of know-how that
broader desires to change the structures of local
emerge from day-to-day practices. For example, the
decision-making in order to make them more
‘knowledgeable amateur’ who produces the wild-
equitable and reflective of the society he wants to
life survey gains his understanding and know-how
produce. His contribution raises question for practi-
about where and how to look for wildlife, and with
tioners and researchers alike, such as how to value
what equipment (binoculars, camouflaged clothing,
contributions that are not officially remunerated?
reference books) through the regular performance
And what kinds of representations we need to help
of practices such as bird watching or nature spot-
conceptualise other value systems and acknowl-
ting, undertaken for enjoyment. In undertaking a
edge other people?
wildlife survey for the Friends of the Park, this practice becomes productive and involves dedicating
Valuing Portland Works
time, codifying knowledge and recording it. The
Portland Works, the subject of Udall’s PhD study,34
wildlife survey is used as a resource, as evidence of
is a Grade II* listed metalwork factory, home to a
a certain use value of the park.
range of craftsmen, artists and musicians. Under threat from closure and conversion into residential
The critical point we wish to make from this
accommodation, campaigners sought to retain it as
detailed representation of participative practices, is
a place of making and to develop it for wider commu-
that the physical and mental activities, equipment
nity benefit. In early 2013, over 500 people came
and know-how involved in participating are often
together to become shareholders and enable the
indistinguishable from practices people undertake
purchase of the Works. Portland Works Industrial
in their leisure time, or practices people undertake
and Provident Society (PW IPS) is managed by
as waged labour. The difference lies in undertaking
the shareholders through the election of a Board of
the practices as participation, as time dedicated to
Directors.
building resources for common goals, as tending or caring for space that is not private property, or as
This account is a sense-making description of
domestic and personal space given over to work for
events, thoughts, conversations and activities that
75
happened over the period of a few days, collaged
and the leaks. We talk about the project, our aim to
together as a ‘recollection’ of a single day and place:
fix the factory up and to keep it as a place of making for another 100 years, and he tells us how great this is
I walk into the courtyard of Portland Works, stepping
and wishes us luck. We all smile.
over an oily puddle forming as Richard jet-washes motors on the threshold of his workshop, falling into
At the end of our tour, Stu invites us all into the work-
step with the rhythmic bass of Andy working the nine-
shop he rents, and over filter-coffee, Mark tells us, ‘…
teenth-century drop hammer as he makes tools in the
Well, by one measure, this building is worth zero. It’s
forge, and expertly avoiding the sheets of metal lying
in such poor condition…’
over a hole in the ground: I’ve been here before. Today we are meeting the surveyor to get a valuation of this
‘Yes,’ we say, ‘our conditional survey says there is
Grade II* listed cutlery works building. This figure will
over £800,000 of urgent work…’
then be our target: the finance we need to raise in order to purchase the building and have enough to run
‘But by another, the rental income, well… it’s a 10x
it and make the most urgent of urgent repairs. [Not
multiplier… so, £450,000.’
enough, we are sure, to replace the dangerous wiring, or fix the leaky roof, but we hope for a little bit more
‘But,’ (I almost shout), ‘that income, surely it’s
than the capital costs – perhaps enough to cover prop-
dependent on the building not collapsing, not setting
ping up a dangerous column, or reconnecting the fire
on fire, that we can keep tenants in here? Without
alarm.]
urgent repairs, replacing felt and slates before the damp roof structure gives up, these workshops won’t
Stu, a knife maker and shareholder [in the commu-
be in rentable condition much longer.’
nity enterprise we have founded for the purchase], appears around a corner. He is pointing up at a
‘Yes’, he says, ‘but your business plan shows that you
dislodged gutter with buddleia sprouting from it,
have a waiting list of tenants, that as a community
drawing the gaze of a man with a clipboard. What he
benefit organisation you can put together good, solid,
is saying is drowned out by the tinkle of windowpanes
funding bids for money to make it wind and watertight,
rattling and electric guitars grinding into the first bars
you can manage it for a reasonable sum of money…
of a well-rehearsed line. This man with the clipboard,
It’s convincing as a viable business… So it’s reason-
now nodding his head, must be the surveyor, soon to
able to suppose the value is around £450,000…’
pronounce a value for this place. I hesitate before I go over: what he has to say will determine how many
We say our goodbyes, and I head back to work,
evenings and weekends I have to invest over the next
drifting through the housing estate opposite the Works,
year. Each pound of the valuation price means work
thinking about the next steps. As I walk, nagging away
for our group of volunteers: selling shares, applying for
at the back of my mind is a thought, one I first hold in,
loans and grants. Hundreds of hours at meetings and
but then can’t help but let burst forth, texting as I go:
filling-in forms instead of being out in the sunshine,
‘Without us doing all this work, the building would be
walking in the Peaks.
worth zero! This is work we haven’t even done yet, but each bit we do makes us have to pay more, and then
We are introduced to Mark, the surveyor, and we
work more to pay more. Can’t we just offer him [the
guide him round, warning him to take care on the
owner] £200k and say that’s fair enough?’
wobbly step, not to grab that handrail as it hasn’t been connected for years, pointing out the bowed walls
In my head, more belligerent thoughts keep coming.
76
Why should the owner gain financially from the hard
Provident Society had also actively made decisions
work of tens of volunteers? But with this comes the
about how we would share what we were doing in
dawning realisation that he could just hold onto it, keep
ways that were outside the market. The most crit-
collecting rents, let the holes in the roof get bigger, see
ical of these actions was that when the purchase
the tenants slowly leave until the only answer is flats
of the building went through, an asset lock was
or demolition …
implemented, which prevented it being ‘demutualised’ and took the building out of the market as
How to resist exploitation?
a commodity. Future plans also actively engage
To understand that our practices of giving our
with questions of surplus and the production and
time freely in order to learn together and develop
reproduction of the site; co-learning in ‘repair cafes’
resources such as business plans, proposals
and open days will be given freely for community
for bringing out-of-use workshops into use and
benefit, and programmes of education and training
increasing the demand for space, could be used
will follow social enterprise models. The organisa-
purely in terms of the value they created for the
tion will work within the city towards frameworks for
landlord, was momentarily paralysing. Each prac-
setting up other similar organisations as collabora-
tice, including the thinking, the emotional output
tors rather than competitors.
and the work itself, was likely to tie us into more work and more hours of fund-raising in the future:
The project could not have existed without non-
our care was giving value to a building the owner
capitalist transactions: often one person would offer
had neglected. Should we then stop our practices
a gift, (frequently of time) to the project as a whole,
of care and creativity as the only way of avoiding
and reciprocity would be indirect. Someone from
exploitation and the co-opting of this value into the
within the group would also ‘give back’, sometimes
market? Yet, as Manuela Zechner suggests in her
as part of another activist commitment, but also
essay ‘Caring for the Network Creatively’, although
by contributing to people’s businesses (within the
we cannot ignore capital, we can understand these
market) or their personal lives (non-capitalist). Then
self-organised, often informal practices as creating
again, a gift given outside the project might result in
other kinds of relationships and adding positively to
a reciprocal action of time contributed towards the
our lives:
collective goals of the Portland Works team. Our work contributed to developing ‘bonds’ between
[…] care and creativity keep us from being bored,
one another,36 and in doing so, created a community
hungry, uninspired, depressed, lonely and sick. They
around a concern.
help sustain our life and make it meaningful […] if we take it in our hands to organise them. Networks of
Conclusions
informal labour may be the worst for exploitation, yet
Articulating (as a practice of reformulating) the
they may also be the most exciting for inventing ways
multiple, heterogeneous sites of struggle, (we)
of sustaining life collectively.
could re-signify all economic transactions and rela-
35
tions, capitalist and non-capitalist, in terms of their The question is how to take control of the way
sociality and interdependence, and their ethical
surpluses are distributed in these participatory
participation in being-in-common as part of a
ways of working. Although the landlord could make
‘community economy’.37
a profit from the many hours of voluntary work, which had inadvertently driven up the market value
As participation has become a more common
of the building, the Portland Works Industrial and
part of urban design, architecture and planning
77
processes, many different kinds of practice have
for granted. How we use our resources must be
evolved.
practices,
constantly renegotiated. The question might be how
productive practices and reproductive practices.
These
include
organising
to articulate individual interests in such a way as to
Though often hidden, we contend that they consti-
constitute common interests.
tute work, and the outputs these practices produce are frequently represented as contributing to the capitalist economy. This ‘re-presenting’ is carried
Notes
out by developers, landowners and councils in
1. Jeremy
order to produce greater ‘outputs’ for smaller finan-
Built
cial investment.
2011).
Till,
‘Constructed
Environment’,
Scarcity
Working
Paper.
in
the
(January
, Scarcity in the
Through representing our practices of participation as part of a diverse landscape of economies,
Built Environment. University of Westminster, London. [Accessed 02 September 2013].
we can draw attention to the diverse participa-
2. Sherry R. Arnstein, ‘A Ladder of Citizen Participation’,
tory practices that happen in people’s homes as
Journal of the American Institute of Planners, 35, 4
a ‘second’ or ‘third shift’ after a working day – by
(1969), p. 216.
drawing on personal and emotional resources and
3. The doctoral research projects referred to here are
by using networks built through years of care. We
Julia Udall’s ‘Tools to Create Agency’, 2010-14, funded
can question their role as inevitably being a support
by the University of Sheffield, and Anna Holder’s
for scarcity (constructed by the market and policies
‘Initiating Architecture’, 2009-13, funded by The Arts
of austerity), and propose instead that they can
and Humanities Research Council of the UK.
be a space for making an ethical choice to create different ways of being together.
4. Sherry R. Arnstein, ‘A Ladder of Citizen Participation’, p.216. 5. Nishat Awan, Tatjana Schneider and Jeremy Till,
There is a complex, relational position between economies of participation and the market economy,
Spatial Agency: Other Ways of Doing Architecture (London: Routledge, 2011).
as they have an interdependent relationship, yet
6. Doina Petrescu, ‘Losing Control, Keeping Desire’,
hold the promise of being counter, or non-capitalist.
in Architecture & Participation, ed. by Peter Blundell
We therefore carry out this re-presenting work to try
Jones, Doina Petrescu and Jeremy Till (Abingdon:
to produce new economic realities, not to claim that
Spon Press, 2005), pp. 42-64.
this landscape already ‘exists’ out there, but rather
7. JK Gibson-Graham, The End of Capitalism (As We
to try to understand the potential for joining in and
Knew It) (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press,
developing these other ‘non-capitalist’ economies.
2006).
By reframing the capacity of individuals, communi-
8. Ibid.
ties and collectives to contribute to our needs as a
9. J.K.
Gibson-Graham,
A
Post-Capitalist
Politics
society, we can begin to find potential opportunities
(Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2006),
for resisting, or developing and proposing alterna-
p. xxxiv.
tives. This reframing enables us to proceed from an assumption of plenitude not scarcity, asking the question how we can distribute these resources, not how much we have and can accumulate. However, in order to do so, we must understand that this is an active process and not something to be taken
10. Michel De Certeau, The Practice of Everyday Life
(Berkeley:
University
of
California
Press,
1984), p. xi. 11. Pierre Bourdieu, The Logic of Practice (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2005), p. 53. 12. Ibid., p. 122.
78
13. Elizabeth Shove, Mika Pantzar & Matt Watson, The Dynamics of Social Practice (London: SAGE, 2012). 14. Tatjana Schneider and Jeremy Till, ‘Beyond Discourse: Notes on Spatial Agency’, Footprint 4 (2009), p. 100. 15. J.K. Gibson-Graham, A Post-Capitalist Politics. 16. J.K.
Gibson-Graham,
‘Diverse
Economies:
Performative Practices for ‘Other Worlds’, Progress in Human Geography, 32, 5 (2008), pp. 613–32.
professional knowledge available to citizens regarding how to challenge or work with the planning system. 28. Examples of this include the Lewisham Borough Council, Walter Segal’s self-build scheme, and the GLC Primary Support Housing Assembly Kit. 29. Graham Towers, Building Democracy, pp. 110-11. 30. Peter Blundell Jones, Doina Petrescu and Jeremy Till, ‘Introduction’, in Architecture & Participation, pp. xiii
17. Catharine MacKinnon, ‘Feminism, Marxism, Method,
– xiv.
and the State: An Agenda for Theory’, Signs: Journal
31. Dan Bloomfield, Kevin Collins, Charlotte Fry and
of Women in Culture and Society, 7, 3 (1982),
Richard Munton, ‘Deliberation and Inclusion: Vehicles
pp. 515-44; p. 515
for Increasing Trust in UK Public Governance?’,
18. John
Holloway,
‘Change
the
World
Without
pp. 501-13.
Taking Power: The Meaning of Revolution Today’
32. See note 3 above.
(Transcription of a video by O. Ressler, recorded in
33. Dave is chairperson of the Friends group, a founding
Vienna, Austria, 23 min., 2004) 19. Ibid. 20. Ibid. 21. Dan Bloomfield, Kevin Collins, Charlotte Fry and
member of the Users Forum and former secretary for the Tenants and Residents Association of the estate where he lives. 34. See note 3 above.
Richard Munton, ‘Deliberation and Inclusion: Vehicles
35. Manuela Zechner, ‘Caring for the Network Creatively’,
for Increasing Trust in UK Public Governance?’,
Trans Local Act: Cultural Practices Within and Across’,
Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy,
ed. by Doina Petrescu, Constantin Petcou and others
19, 4 (2001), pp. 501-13.
(Paris:aaa/peprav, 2011), p. 378.
22. Sherry R. Arnstein, ‘A Ladder of Citizen Participation’, p. 217. 23. This account refers to the common performance of communicative practices as participation at a late stage in planning processes and within the adversarial atmosphere of the Public Inquiry. Forester demonstrates that communicative and deliberative practices at earlier stages and in different forms can be effective and transformational in planning processes. 24. Dan Bloomfield, Kevin Collins, Charlotte Fry and Richard Munton, ‘Deliberation and inclusion: vehicles for increasing trust in UK public governance?’, pp. 501-13. 25. Graham Towers, Building Democracy: Community Architecture in the Inner Cities (London: UCL Press, 1995), pp. 103-4. 26. Ibid. 27. In 1979, the Town and Country Planning Association founded Community Technical Aid in Manchester, the beginning of the ‘Planning Aid’ approach, which made
36. Avner Offer, ‘Between the Gift and the Market: the Economy of Regard’, Economic History Review, L, 3 (1997), pp. 450-76. 37. JK Gibson-Graham, The End of Capitalism (As We Knew It), p. 97.
79
Biographies Anna Holder holds qualifications in architecture and planning and has practised in the UK and the Netherlands. She is completing her doctoral research on ways in which architecture and spatial projects are initiated, focusing on designer and community-led processes. She is a director of the social-enterprise architectural practice, Studio Polpo, and a member of the Sheffield School of Architecture (SSoA) research centre ‘Agency’. Julia Udall studied architecture in Glasgow and Sheffield and is a Design Tutor at Sheffield School of Architecture, where she is completing her doctoral research. She has worked in architectural and community organisations, researching and acting with people to create change in the urban landscape. She is a director of the social-enterprise architectural practice, Studio Polpo, and a member of the SSoA research centre ‘Agency’.
80
81
The Importance of Recognition for Equal Representation in Participatory Processes: Lessons from Husby Karin Hansson, Göran Cars, Love Ekenberg, and Mats Danielson
Introduction
not only by enabling better services for citizens
In urban planning, ideas regarding the involve-
but also by introducing various ways of involving
ment of the public in planning processes have been
them in dialogue processes. Projects such as the
present since the 1960s and 1970s, when popular,
Blacksburg Electronic Village in Virginia, USA, and
radical, democratic ideology emphasised public
the Digital City in Amsterdam, the Netherlands,
involvement. In the discourse from that period, the
explored the Internet as a means of developing a
word participation implied a process in which people
more deliberative democracy in local communities.5
could influence the decisions that affected them, or
Thus, public participation in urban planning can
as Arnstein expressed it in 1969: ‘[Participation] is
take on many different forms. Activities may range
the redistribution of power that enables the have-not
from clear-cut discussions about public art projects
citizens, presently excluded from the political and
organised by various authorities with a formalised
economic processes, to be deliberately included in
structure and a predefined agenda, to spontaneous
the future’.2
revolts. Participatory forms may range from basic
1
questionnaires to different kinds of more or less In the 1990s, an interest in participatory proc-
developed dialogues with stakeholders and citizens,
esses reappeared, while the issues of redistribution
such as public meetings, charettes or participatory
and power shifted to matters of recognition and
design methods.
identity construction, influenced by post-structuralism and third-wave feminism, with its focus
Needless to say, the participatory paradigm in
on the politics of identity and diversity. Generally
urban planning has not been without its critics. In the
since then, the dominant planning discourse has
1960s, Arnstein was critical of many attempts to use
undergone a major change towards more collabo-
participatory methods in planning, referring to them
rative and communicative planning. There are many
as ‘manipulations’ and ‘therapy’, and claiming that
terms for this approach: communicative planning,
initiatives of this kind had nothing to do with sharing
collaborative planning, participatory planning, or
power but were instead used as a means to justify
3
planning through debate. These terms have been
the plans. Furthermore, dialogue in urban planning
used in the literature of planning theory to describe
is restricted in scope since the important decisions
and transform the concepts of Habermasian critical
are mostly made elsewhere. Lack of transparency
theory into the planning process.4 Furthermore,
in participatory processes limits an understanding
the potential of information and communication
of the urban planning issues involved, and thus fails
technologies (ICT) to engage more people in collec-
to meet modern society’s need for effectiveness and
tive processes was also seen as an opportunity to
social cohesion.6 Some commentators focus their
reform the system of representative democracy,
critique on the deliberative ‘ideal speech’ condition
13
The Participatory Turn in Urbanism, Autumn 2013, pp. 81-98
82
suggested by Habermas, which ignores hegemonic
conflict, are excessively time-consuming, and regu-
discourses and antagonistic interests, and does not
larly end up in an impasse.
position the public discourse in relation to the state and the economy.7 The lack of equal representa-
Given the many facets involved, the issue of
tion is common in extended, deliberative forms
representation in planning processes calls for a
of democracy in which citizens participate more
cross-disciplinary approach. We therefore estab-
actively in planning and decision-making proce-
lished a joint research project involving the School
dures, as these forms tend to give disproportionate
of Architecture and the Built Environment at the
power to people who have the means, time and
Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm,
opportunity to participate – a situation that under-
the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm, and the
mines the widely held concept of representative
Department of Computer and Systems Sciences at
democracy. In addition, citizens are too frequently
Stockholm University. The research project team is
conceived of as a homogenous group, so that differ-
exploring communicative structures on site, using
ences both between and within various groups are
various methods ranging from media analyses,
seldom recognised.
interviews and participatory observations, to public seminars and more exploratory art projects in the
Furthermore, from the 1960s onwards there
public space. [fig. 1]
has been a proliferation of various ICT tools for supporting democratic decision-making, and the
One area of research under focus is the lack of
field of e-participation has also struggled with similar
equal representation in participatory processes,
problems of representation. The relationships
which we consider by investigating and using the
among those who participate in Internet discus-
concept of recognition as a fundamental aspect
sions are no more egalitarian than in other forums.
of participatory urban planning. Below, we discuss
Gender research into new media indicates that
one of our case studies and relate it to democratic
gender, race, and ethnicity as grounds for discrimi-
theory and the critique of participatory practices in
nation are just as prominent online as in other social
urban planning we presented above. The case is
contexts,8 and, once again, only certain groups
quite typical in the sphere of urban planning, but
participate in political activities via the Internet. The
particularly interesting as it clearly demonstrates
digital differentiation increases the gap between
the impact of changing information structures on
different social groups. In a comparison of research
participatory processes. We conclude by arguing
on the digital divide and research on community
that the insights gained can help identify strategies
satisfaction, Dutta-Bergman demonstrated that the
for solving the problem of a lack of equal represen-
relationship between involvement in local political
tation in the participatory process.
9
life and greater use of the Internet involves dividing people into many fragmented groups based on their
Urban planning in Husby
identity and common interests rather than bringing
Car fires and riots have put Husby and other
together different groups and perspectives.10 At
parts of suburban Stockholm on the global map.
the same time, ICT and more globalised societies
The events of May 2013, in which 76 cars and
have changed the understanding of concepts such
21 schools and kindergartens were set on fire,
as ‘common’ and ‘public’. The process of defining
and where youths threw stones at the police, is
common problems and whom they involve remains
described in the media as symptomatic of a growing
unclear and controversial. Hence, both planning
alienation in suburbs marked by immigration, social
and decision-making processes often give rise to
problems and unemployment. The media account
83
Fig. 1: Open Space by Anna Hasselberg (2012) is part of the art project in Husby. © Martin Hultén.
84
is dramatised and aestheticised, and presents a
public services, and there are political controversies
picture that is in sharp contrast to the normal, quiet,
surrounding many of the initiatives included in the
everyday life in Husby, a suburban idyll surrounded
planned investments. The dilemma facing Husby
by extensive green areas. Husby was built in the
is not only that the stakeholders cannot agree on
1970s as part of a ten-year national programme
how to solve the local problems but also that they
(1965-75) to combat inner city slums and simulta-
cannot agree on defining them. This lack of a
neously construct new, prefabricated, multi-storey
shared viewpoint makes it extremely challenging
housing in the suburbs. The construction of these
to find a solution that will satisfy the interests of
suburbs was one of the core pillars of the Swedish
the various stakeholders. As a consequence, the
welfare model. The inhabitants were offered clean
process of agenda setting is submerged in conflict.
and functional homes according to the ideals of the
From a representative-democratic perspective, it is
time. In 2012 there were about 12,000 people living
the region’s long-term interests that should be the
in Husby, mostly in rented apartments, in an area
starting point for development strategies for Husby.
built for a small-scale community. Husby is located
‘Citizens’ from this perspective are not only those
along a subway line about 15 kilometres north of
directly affected – those living in Husby today –
Stockholm’s city centre. The area is home to many
but also a wider group of stakeholders, given that
immigrants: 86.4% of Husby’s population were born
Stockholm is an important economic node for the
outside Sweden or had both parents born outside
whole of Sweden.
Sweden, compared with 33% in Stockholm as a whole.11 The unemployment rate in the area is 8.8%
From a deliberative-democratic perspective,
(Stockholm, 3.3%), and the percentage of people
all those who are affected by the decision should
in work is 55% (Stockholm, 77%). Voter turnout is
participate equally in the public discussion and,
similarly low: 55% (Stockholm, 81%).
where there is a preparatory discussion, should ultimately reach a decision on rational grounds. From
Public opinion regards Husby as a problem area.
this perspective it is important to prepare and formu-
Furthermore, the buildings have aged and there
late the political issues by public debate with all the
is a substantial need for renovation. In the light of
affected parties. In practice, the values at stake are
these issues, there is a broad public consensus
too large to realistically reach a consensus decision.
that Husby is in need of substantial redevelopment,
From the municipality’s perspective, the growth of
including housing rehabilitation, social upgrading,
Husby is an objective, since the neighbourhood is
and densification. Stockholm is also growing at a
strategically located between the city centre and
fast pace, and the municipality of Stockholm has
the international airport, with a good communica-
developed strategic plans for new developments
tion network and recreational surroundings. From
as well as for densification of existing suburbs to
the perspective of Husby’s actual residents, the
host this growth. Densification plans include Husby.
municipal authorities’ development plans imply that
A first planning proposal was presented in 2007, but
people who have lived in the area all their lives might
has been frozen for the time being due to protests
be forced to move because they will be unable to
by local residents.
afford the anticipated increased living costs.
Both the redevelopment plans and the municipal-
According to the citizens of Husby, the mediated
ity’s definition of the problems differ from the ideas
public sphere is dominated by a group of people
and opinions held by Husby’s residents. The plans
who are not located in Husby and who acquire
coincide with cuts and changes in the delivery of
their information from police sources and press
85
releases. However, the dominant discourse in the
young people in the community come together,
public sphere maintains that Husby is an area
positing their own conceptions of the neighbour-
suffering from high crime rates and social problems
hood. The founders were seeking amore nuanced
due to poor education, cultural differences and poor
picture of young people and Husby than the domi-
anchorage in civil society.
nant Swedish media sphere allowed and wanted to launch a debate on their own terms through an
This negative image of Husby has created a
online forum and organised discussion evenings.
local backlash. The inhabitants do not recognise the picture painted by the media and shared by public
Megafonen and its representatives have quickly
officials. In local public spheres, the discourses are
gained attention in the dominant media, and the
different. Husby’s residents feel comparatively safe
group is currently an informal representative for
and confident, and thrive in their community. They
both the young people and their parents when an
consider problems related to the recent influx of
issue is to be debated; for example, when police
immigrants with low incomes and education levels
shot a sixty-nine-year-old man in Husby, Megafonen
to be small and mainly caused by cuts and deficits
organised demonstrations against police violence,
in services such as schooling, day care and welfare
and again, when the local meeting place, Husby
services.
Träff, was occupied as a protest against relocation plans.
Unlike the scenario related to problems in the 1960s, when a radical democratic ideology was
Thanks to the use of social media such as blogs,
central, the controversies are not just about the
Facebook, and Twitter, local people in Husby have
unequal distribution of resources among different
established information channels which manage to
stakeholders or the perception of planners as
influence the dominant discourse, and have devel-
collaborating with powerful economic interests, but
oped relationships with other groups with similar
also about recognition: the residents feel that their
interests.12 The network Järva’s Future has organ-
perceptions of the situation do not coincide with
ised opposition to proposed gentrification plans.
how they are framed in the media or expressed by
Politically independent and not a formal associa-
public opinion.
tion, the network is organised by means of a mailing list comprising people from different parties and
According to Husby’s residents, planners should
associations in the area.
focus on social problems and not primarily on the physical environment. Various local organisations
But even within groups of people with a broad
have therefore taken matters into their own hands
consensus, power structures that limit participation
and are working against the dominant discourse
still exist. The association Street Gäris, which uses
by creating their own. These interest groups have
a Facebook group as a meeting place, was founded
developed a strong common identity, where the self-
as a reaction to male dominance in contexts such
defined values of ‘Husby’ are important common
as youth centres, and school classrooms and
denominators.
corridors.
The youth organisation Megafonen serves
In Husby’s urban planning process, the munic-
as one example of such interest groups. [fig. 2]
ipal authorities actively tried to establish a dialogue
Founded with the goal of creating an alterna-
with the residents to encourage them to accept the
tive view of Stockholm’s northern suburbs, here,
development plans. In the course of just a few days
86
spent collecting opinions and discussing plans with
been criticised.
the citizens, the municipality were able to reach a much larger group than dialogue meetings in
One of the major conflicts in Husby developed
Sweden’s urban planning process usually attract.
from a change in the structure of local communi-
Residents responded to questions concerning
cation. The neighbourhood was built to create
where they felt safe and where they felt insecure,
many venues for social interaction. There is no
and were asked to suggest proposals for improve-
main square but several small ones, as well as a
ments to the physical space. This result was
library, community centre, medical centre, grocery
achieved by using young people from Megafonen
stores, restaurants, small shops etc. Pedestrian
as ambassadors. Their local knowledge and multi-
walkways avoid road traffic and connect the various
lingualism were exploited in order to reach groups
parts of Husby, which means that children can play
of adults who otherwise would not have participated
in safety. When the area was built in the 1970s it
because of language problems or their unwilling-
was designed for community life. Each apartment
ness to expose their views. There was therefore
block had a meeting room, and each district had a
a strong degree of recognition between those
recreational centre. There were management staff
who organised the dialogue sessions and the
who assumed an informal role as ‘information chan-
participants. The issues were also important to the
nels’ between residents and public agencies. One
residents since their immediate environment was at
community centre built adjoining one of the squares
stake. Consequently, both the level of participation
had a restaurant, and a stage that could be used for
and expectations were high. The youth organisa-
debates and parties. Over time, public services in
tions also had great expectations that their accrued
Husby deteriorated due to changes in the Swedish
time and the capital built on their reputation would
welfare system and dominant political ideologies.
make a difference.
The neighbourhood managers disappeared, as did other service personnel. Recently, the privatisa-
However, the municipal authorities never saw
tion and closure of public housing, together with
the citizen dialogue as anything more than a way
plans to remove the pedestrian/traffic separation,
of obtaining information. They had no intention of
have provoked substantial local protests and illegal
involving the participants in the actual decision-
squats.
making. For their part, the urban planners were focused on a restricted field that concerned roads
In parallel with the decline in publicly supported
and buildings and avoided issues that the citizens
common spaces, the common domains in semi-
found more urgent, such as the provision of social
commercial spaces online are widening. An
services in the area. Accordingly, reactions were
important source of information among Persian
strong when the final proposal did not meet the
speakers in Husby and other parts of the world is
local activists’ expectations. The municipal authori-
Radio Peyvan, a community radio based in Husby.
ties took more account of the Stockholm region
The role of the Iranian Culture Association, which
as a whole. Therefore, although the participatory
operates the radio, is to strengthen a sense of
approach created considerable expectations for
self and thus promote integration and participa-
direct influence in the decision-making process,
tion in Swedish society. One of the more popular
these were never realised. Instead, the documenta-
programmes has explained the activities of parlia-
tion of the dialogues, including quotes from citizens
ment and the government. The use of Persian has
and their images, were used to justify a new plan
made it easier for the elderly (whose knowledge
that was almost identical to the one that had initially
of Swedish is limited) to follow and therefore to
87
Fig. 2: Bana Bisrat from Megafonen at demonstration against Swedish migration policy in Stockholm 2013. © Calandrella.
88
understand and participate in the community. Radio
Our media study shows that Husby is often
Peyvan also presents and discusses Swedish news.
portrayed as a problem area in news articles.14
The radio channel works rather like a bulletin board,
Half the articles and notices about Husby describe
advertising events and hosting call-in programmes
some kind of problem, and the majority of indi-
that discuss a range of urgent issues. The radio is
viduals selected as subjects or spokespersons in
also available on the Internet and, according to its
the articles – the ones who are portrayed or inter-
producer Bahman Motaei, has about 8,000 online
viewed and whose opinions occupy a central role
listeners, an estimated 90% of whom live in Iran.
in the press – are middle-aged and have typical,
For Bahman, it is important that people who contact
ethnic, Swedish names. In general, they tend to be
the channel are given space and can control the
people with a position in society, usually working for
content. His aim is to act more as a moderator,
a government or municipal authority, whereas the
listening and making sure that everyone has a
majority of ‘objectified’ individuals in the articles,
chance to talk.
those mentioned and discussed but not directly interviewed, are ‘young people’. The positions
The Iraq Art Association is another active
presented in the articles are far from an equal or
community in the area, and official Iraqi media
fair representation of the diversity found in Husby,
comment on exhibitions at the art gallery. Although
or elsewhere for that matter. One can see the public
these organisations do not have much influence in
sphere as a mirror in which some people can recog-
the official Swedish cultural sphere, they are part
nise themselves more than others. ‘Young people’
of other global communities. This is an example of
feature extensively in the reporting, but mainly as
how globalisation has reshaped the foundations of
objects of concern. The people showing concern
the shared local sphere and how residents of Husby
and doing the talking are middle-aged and are often
act in various public arenas not shared by the offi-
representatives of public authorities: politicians, civil
cials of the Stockholm municipality. Neither does
servants and police officers.
the municipality see Husby’s current residents as its main ‘citizens’. Instead, the municipal authorities
There is, however, one exception that counters
consider how they think Stockholm should evolve
this media approach: the local journal Norra Sidan
over time from a global perspective and, conse-
has taken a more constructive attitude. It was
quently, place importance on attracting financially
founded as late as 2012 as a reaction to the discred-
strong partners to invest locally. ‘Global’ connec-
iting style of journalism in other media. Its strategy is
tions in this context are of a different kind from those
to conduct so-called citizen journalism by reaching
represented by Husby’s residents, many of whom
out to residents and seeking to formulate problems
have Swedish as their second or third language.
and solutions together with its readers. Although the paper is only issued monthly, it has rapidly become
What is most interesting with regard to Husby is
an important local source of information.
the gap in worldviews between the decision-makers from the city council and the residents. This can be
In the newspaper Norra Sidan it is the local people
explained by examining how Husby is presented in
who write, which makes it different, creating a different
the dominant media. Ekberg shows how Swedish
feeling. Crime is not the only thing that occurs in the
journalists are not only concentrated in the major
area. The [other] media give a false image. The image
cities, but also reside in a small number of neigh-
has consequences. A while ago, the kids played with
bourhoods in the inner city.
the image by making fun of it. They harassed those
13
who came here they did not recognise, just to confirm
89
the prejudices. (Amir Marjai, aged 45).
determined by power elites who held no dialogue with residents in the local communities. A planning
For Rouzbeh Djalai, editor of Norra Sidan, the
profession that only focused on the physical envi-
point of the local newspaper is not to change other
ronment was questioned, and a view of the city as
people’s image of a place – the most important
a total social, economic, and cultural system was
thing is to change the self-image of the people
emphasised. The critique was also strongly against
themselves.
an overly rational attitude towards urban renewal, which saw planners aligning themselves with
If the local newspaper constantly stresses that you
powerful real-estate interests. At that time, new,
live in a crappy area, then you have to, as a reaction,
more inclusive, planning paradigms appeared, such
either move away or it’s you who are the problem, and
as transactive and advocacy planning. Advocacy
you make the problem your identity. (Rouzbeh Djalaie,
planning, for instance, emphasises the conflicts and
aged 47)
diversity of interests in the planning process, and maintains that the planner should not represent only
The uneven distribution of visibility for different
one public interest, but acknowledge the presence of
groups in the media is not unique to reporting about
many and conflicting ones. One of its leading propo-
Husby, but it clearly shows that the public sphere is
nents, Paul Davidoff, has also criticised the fact that
a highly unequal place in terms of its representa-
most so-called public participation programmes are
tion and recognition of identity. Given that the media
reactions to government proposals rather than initi-
offers an important place for deliberative dialogue
ated by residents presenting their own proposals:
and democratic agenda setting, media discourses are fundamental to the way politicians and urban
Intelligent choice about public policy would be aided
planners define and frame the problems that urban
if different political, social, and economic interests
renewal is supposed to solve.
produced city plans. Plural plans rather than a single agency plan should be presented to the public.
Participation, democracy and globalisation
Politicizing the planning process requires that the
As we discussed above, conflicts have arisen
planning function be located in either or both the
regarding the way in which Husby’s problems are
executive and legislative branches and the scope of
formulated and presented. The Municipality of
planning be broadened to include all areas of interest
Stockholm wants to develop and rebuild the area
to the public.15
while the residents want better social services, and would prefer lower rents to renovations. An
In this model, a radical democratic notion of public
important part of defining the problem takes place
participation is a central tenet, and a multitude
in a public sphere that is dominated by restricted
of public interests are assumed and respected.
discourses.
The formal planner is merely a facilitator who is supposed to stimulate primarily underrepresented
The 1960s and 70s marked a period in which
groups to actively participate in the processes.
American urban planners were engaged in the
The model also emphasises the political aspects of
civil rights movement and the struggles against the
planning and the importance of recognising unequal
displacement of low-income communities. The rapid
economic conditions and power differences.
transformation of Western city centres provoked
This model is interesting in relation to develop-
people to raise their voices and protest about insen-
ment plans for Husby. As with the urban planning
sitive rebuilding schemes and gentrification projects
Davidoff criticised in the 1960s, it is not primarily the
90
residents’ interests that are being taken into account.
these types of alternative public spheres, where
The planners represent the one and only ‘general
contested identities, such as minority groups, can
best’: there is no attempt to present multiple plans
develop their own discourses without constant
that include the standpoints of different groups of
questioning from hegemonic worldviews.17
stakeholders. There is a clash of interests between the officials who want to change Husby and the
It should be noted, however, that minority groups
residents of Husby who may have to relocate as a
also tend to be structured within certain parameters
result of these changes. This conflict seems to be
– age or gender for example – and are no more
reinforced by the fact that the planning officials and
democratic than the dominant sphere: members of
politicians in charge, who do not live in the area,
the same group may well have different, conflicting
are also of a different class and ethnicity from the
interests. In Husby, for example, Street Gäris was
residents of Husby who are directly affected by the
founded as a reaction against male dominance in
planning decisions. The gap between the conflicting
local public spheres,18 and may serve to illustrate
interests and worldviews is simply too large. In addi-
what John Dryzek calls a ‘discursive democracy’.
tion, the agenda and discussion are governed by
In this model, just as in a deliberative democracy,
a hegemonic discourse in the public sphere, which
the agenda is defined by the dominant discourse;
reproduces discriminatory structures. Ideally, we
however, by creating places where alternative
would like to see efficient means of enlightened
discourses can be developed, these can grow
reasoning taking place, much advocated by propo-
strong and influence the discourse of the dominant
nents of deliberative democracy. But as Mouffe,
public sphere.19 In this context, the group’s iden-
for one, has noted, this is only possible if no major
tity and interests may not necessarily be uniform.
conflicts exist between the different groups, which is
In contrast, a political practice that emphasises
not the case in Husby.16
the antagonism between different groups underestimates the contradictions and unequal power
Consequently, the public sphere in which political
relations within these groups. Identity-based groups
issues are considered can be a profoundly undemo-
held together by common norms and cultures
cratic and unequal place, governed by ideologies
can be composed of individuals with a variety of
very different from the ideal model of democracy in
interests. In this respect, new media can enable
the deliberative participatory paradigm. Inequalities
individuals from different groups to gather more
may also multiply when information and communi-
easily around specific interests (such as feminism),
cation technology reinforce dominant norms about
regardless of their identity-group affiliation (such as
what questions are political, thus increasing the
being young or from Somalia), which may loosen
tension between different groups in society: those
the links between interest and identity. Dryzek
whose questions count as political and those whose
further argues that in order to reduce the signifi-
issues are not even discussed. On the other hand,
cance of antagonism between different groups, we
the increased use of social media, where the focus
need public meeting rooms far from the hot political
is on friends and family, has transformed what were
locations where decisions are made. Within these
once private social spaces into public spheres with
micro-public spheres more creative discussions can
a global reach. The development of public spheres
take place between people with similar interests,
on the internet can be regarded as an opportunity to
and thus enable the development of arguments and
create more alternative sources of information, and
ideas strong enough to influence a larger public
a way of breaking information monopolies. Fraser
sphere.
suggested the term subaltern counter publics for
91
To sum up: since the 1960s, participatory prac-
In addition to redistribution and representation,
tices have become a norm in many areas, but the
Fraser also adds recognition of one’s identity as
underlying ideology has changed towards a notion
important for democratic justice.21 Particularly in
of democracy that focuses less on redistribu-
a global perspective where the participant is not
tion and more on recognition and representation.
clearly defined, recognition of one’s worldview and
Furthermore, ICT is changing the concept of the
identity is important for developing the incentive
common sphere; for instance, local issues (such
to participate in the deliberative process. As one
the action of Husby’s young girls against male
of our informants remarked in the interview: ‘The
dominance) can easily become part of a global
satellite dishes are illustrative. Many people do not
movement (the feminist movement, for example),
experience what is around them as real. What is
while questions about who is affected by changes
here is not your truth, so you turn away, maybe to
in a given situation become more difficult to answer
your home country, to get information from outside’.
as economies increasingly intertwine. Participation
(Amir Marjai, aged 45)
in urban planning therefore not only entails being part of the decision-making process, but also being
Information technology facilitates parallel public
part of the agenda-setting process, which evolves
spheres. If one’s identity is not confirmed in one
from discourses developed in the dominant public
forum, involvement is reduced, but it might increase
sphere: discourses that are also influenced by
in other forums. If representation is considered from
subaltern counter-publics formed from communi-
a perspective where the motivation for engaging in
ties of interests. In Husby, the interest organisation
a community is not (only) based on national and
Megafonen and the network Järva’s Future are both
geographic boundaries but also involves relation-
examples of subaltern counter-publics that have
ships between participants in dynamically-created
managed to develop their own powerful discourses,
global communities of interest, recognition both
which in turn have influenced general public opinion.
motivates and structures representation. According
Therefore the next question to ask is what moti-
to urban network theory, participation in informal
vates the individual to participate in a community of
networks is organised along parameters such as
interest and to develop alternative public spheres?
class, gender or ethnicity, verifying the assumption that equals seek equals.22 People with similar inter-
The importance of recognition for participation
ests or similar problems are attracted to each other
In the 1970s, Davidoff emphasised that redistribu-
as they acknowledge each other’s perspectives,
tion was the ultimate goal for urban planners, and
codes, and rituals. In this perspective, community
that equal representation in the planning process
is about recognition and shared cultural norms and
was the condition for this.20 Representation is
values, developed through interaction between indi-
increasingly relevant today given that the perception
viduals over time.
of the nation state as the basis of institutionalised democracy is being questioned by the rise of global
Thus, recognition and closeness in time and
movements dealing with issues – from human rights
space seem to be reasons for participating in a
to the environment – that involve globally scattered
community. An individual’s relationship with other
stakeholders. Participation is not just about taking
people in terms of recognition is then determined
part in decision-making processes, but also entails
by the amount of shared common ground, with
defining who is a legitimate, representative ‘citizen’
parameters such as gender and class assuming
in these processes.
importance, together with time and physical location. The significant contribution of information
92
technology in this context is to reduce the impor-
- Community: A group of people who share inter-
tance of time and physical location, making it easier
ests, values, goals and practices, and where people
to tie common bonds with peers at a distance. In
often know each other. The culture is mediated in a
practice, this means that the common domain shifts
public sphere.
from one based on time and geographical proximity, to one where interests do not depend on time or
This chart should be viewed as a scale where the
physical location. For instance, instead of having
individual may be simultaneously part of several
a conversation with people in your physical vicinity
different series, interest groups and communities.
whom you might not know very well, the mobile phone allows conversation with friends at a distance,
Linking this perspective to Dryzek’s concept of
with whom you may prefer to talk. To understand
discursive democracy, communication tools such
the individual’s motivation for participating in the
as shared meeting rooms, publications, or discus-
shaping of common, local spaces, it is important
sion groups online can develop greater antagonism
to understand how interests arising from shared
between different interest groups by strengthening
geographical space intersect with other communi-
their separate culture and particularity. Yet the same
ties of interest. The individual here can be seen as
tools can also reduce culture-based antagonism by
more or less fragmented into various communities
making it easier for people to contact other groups
of interest that can be shared by people in the same
with whom they share an interest, regardless of any
geographical space, or in a completely different
culturally conditioned identity. The feminist move-
geographical areas. ICT can lead to fragmentation,
ment is an example of this. People from different
but by facilitating involvement in local affairs, it can
classes and cultures can form an interest group
also be used to reconnect people who share the
– on the issue of women’s suffrage, for example –
same physical location.
and thus change the rules that govern the scope for action of the whole series of women. Husby
Iris Young refers to individuals who share
itself provides another example. The area has
common denominators as belonging to ‘series’
many organisations built on common values such
rather than ‘groups’ – a belonging that does not
as culture or religion. Although these organisa-
necessarily imply awareness.
This interpretation
tions share premises, they otherwise have little in
makes it possible to consider individuals as passive
common. However, when the premises were threat-
members of a variety of interest groups, even ones
ened with closure, Järva’s Future network was
with conflicting interests. Figure 3 illustrates the
created as an interest group that drew its members
difference between a series, a loosely tied interest
from a variety of organisations. Their joint action
group, and a community with shared cultural values:
resulted in a general improvement of the local
23
community. - Series: A series of people, who are unaware of each other, share a common denominator. There
To conclude: the motivation to participate in the
are no channels of communication.
public sphere can be understood as a combination
- Interest Group: A group of people who share a
of shared interests and shared values; for example,
common interest and create a public sphere. The
recognition. The individual takes part in several,
individual has a communication channel to the
more or less coherent, communities of interest, all
group, be it a shared space, a mailing list, or a
of which can be seen as bases for public spheres.
similar forum that makes communication with the
A social space, such as a restaurant or discus-
group possible.
sion group online, does not automatically increase
93
Fig. 3: Illustration of: A series of people with a common denominator; a loosely-knit interest group; a tightly-knit community. Black dots denote individuals; grey dots signify what they have in common; lines indicate that they know each other. The length of the lines has no significance. Illustration: Karin Hansson.
94
participation but it improves the conditions for
belong to. Here, common spaces play an important
participation. Globalisation causes a fragmentation
role in helping transform common local interests
of the local public sphere, but may also strengthen
into common identities. This includes such contexts
minority groups locally.
as public squares, community centres, newspapers, TV channels, or websites that confirm individual
Concluding remarks: recognition and
self-images and encourage interaction and the
community
collective development of knowledge.
Today, participation is the norm in urban planning, but the underlying ideology has changed from a
Communities of this kind are not conflict-free.
radically democratic ideology that emphasised the
Participation is not a means of getting everyone to
significance of unequal economic conditions and
take part in a joint creative urban design process.
power differences, to a liberal ideology that empha-
Instead, broad public participation helps to promote
sises access to information and the importance
more critical perspectives and as diverse a picture
of participation for a more creative and efficient
of the situation as possible.
society. Differences in the ability to participate in planning processes are increased by a media land-
For instance, Husby’s residents were used as
scape that is fragmented and ever more difficult to
informants in the municipal authority’s survey of the
survey. This situation has also transferred interest
area, and their comments were submitted as part
from the economic inequalities between groups to
of the data that informed the municipal planners.
the unequal influence certain groups have on the
The starting point was that Husby needed improve-
dominant discourse.
ments. The solutions decided upon were aspects the city planners could control, such as buildings,
From this perspective, participation is as much
roads, and repainting houses. The agenda had been
about recognising one’s personal identity, and how
decided in advance, and solutions to the problems
one’s concept of reality is reflected in the media, as
were already defined. The authorities had already
it is about the redistribution of the means to partici-
established the framework for discussion. Just as in
pate. Recognition is connected to representation.
the type of participatory art where the artist creates
If the individual’s self-image is not recognised in
the framework and then invites participants to fill in
the public discourse, it is not represented in the
the ‘content’, people are assumed to be bearers of
decision-makers’ image of the situation. The incen-
‘data’ that can be extracted, rather than acknowl-
tive to engage in the common also decreases
edged as critical discussion partners.
if the individual is not acknowledged as a part of this community. Participation is about reciprocity: if
Figure 4 illustrates an individual’s participation in
the individual does not feel that the engagement is
diverse interest groups, to which he or she belongs
mutual, the incentive to participate is reduced. For
to a greater or lesser extent. People who live in the
most citizens, the personal benefit of becoming
same area tend to have more common interests
involved in planning activities is usually low and the
than people who do not, but forums such as books,
cost of participation high.
magazines, art, websites and social media loosen the link with geographical proximity. The individual
In order to create greater engagement in local
may actually have more in common with people
issues, a community seems to be required where
in other locations, and the incentive to engage in
the participants are seen and acknowledged in light
issues related to the common location decreases.
of the diversity of the multiple communities they
95
Fig. 4: Illustration of how the individual (represented by the white dot) is included in various interest groups (grey spheres), where such a group also provides a social network as several individuals (represented by black dots) in the interest group share and develop information together through a forum that can be a physical meeting place or ICT. A communication forum (big dot) provides potential contact (dotted lines) between members of the interest group and enables community in the group to develop (solid lines). Illustration: Karin Hansson.
96
But as Dryzek suggests, communication can
Journal of the American Institute of Planners
also be actively used to strengthen the ties between
(November 1965), pp. 331–38; Sherry R. Arnstein,
those who share or are affected by the loca-
‘A Ladder of Citizen Participation’, Journal of the
tion: firstly, by bringing visibility to an issue, and
American Institute of Planners (July 1969), pp. 216–24.
secondly, by creating space for dialogue between
2. Sherry R. Arnstein, ‘A Ladder of Citizen Participation’,
those affected by the issue. In a discussion forum, the discussion starts when someone puts forward
p. 224. 3. John
Forester,
The
Deliberative
Practitioner:
an issue and is interested in developing it with the
Encouraging
help of the group. In order to get others interested in
(Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1999); Patsy Healey,
participating in the call, it is important to recognise
Collaborative Planning: Shaping Places in Fragmented
and treat them as equals. In a long-term reciprocal
Societies (Vancouver: UBC Press, 1997); Michael
interaction, fellowship and a common culture are
Murray and John Greer, ‘Participatory Planning as
developed that will further strengthen the relation-
Dialogue: The Northern Ireland Regional Strategic
ship between interest and identity.
Framework and its Public Examination Process’, Policy Studies,
Participatory
Planning
Processes
23, 3 (September 2002), pp.191–
None of this is new, but Husby is an example of
209; Patsy Healey, ‘Planning Through Debate: The
how globalisation and ICT have gained a signifi-
Communicative Turn in Planning Theory’, ed. by Frank
cant role in shaping local issues, and thus contains
Fischer and John Forester, Town Planning Review,
important indicators with regard to reinforcing incen-
63, 2 (1992), pp. 143–62.
tives to participate in urban planning.
4. Philip Allmendinger and Mark Tewdwr-Jones, ‘The Communicative Turn in Urban Planning: Unravelling
To improve the equal representation of participants in urban planning processes requires the
Paradigmatic, Imperialistic and Moralistic Dimensions’, Space and Polity, 6, 1 (April 2002), pp.5–24.
creation of a long-term engagement in local affairs
5. Digital Cities III. Information Technologies for Social
rather than in single events. It involves creating
Capital: Cross-cultural Perspectives, ed. by Peter
spaces and forums for a variety of public spheres
van den Besselaar and Satoshi Koizumi, Third
where different political agendas can be launched
International Digital Cities Workshop, Amsterdam,
and given time to develop. Common domains such
the Netherlands, September 18-19, 2003. Revised
as public squares, libraries, schools, local papers,
Selected
art galleries and online forums are important settings
networks: lessons from Blacksburg, Virginia, ed. by
for communication. A participatory methodology for
Andrew Michael Cohill and Andrea L. Kavanaugh
urban planning should thus be aimed at supporting
Papers(Springer,
2005);
Community
(Boston: Artech House, 1997).
and acknowledging a variety of communication
6. Mats Danielson et al., ‘Using a Software Tool for Public
flows in order to reduce the differences between
Decision Analysis: The Case of Nacka Municipal
those with more and those with less influence over
authorities’, Decision Analysis, 4, 2 (June 1, 2007),
the political agenda.
pp. 76–90; Mats Danielson et al., ‘Decision process support for participatory democracy’, Journal of MultiCriteria Decision Analysis, 15, 1-2 (January 2008),
Notes
pp. 15–30.
1. See, for example, Paul Davidoff, ‘Working Toward
7. Allmendinger and Tewdwr-Jones, ‘The Communicative
Redistributive Justice’, Journal of the American
Turn in Urban Planning: Unravelling Paradigmatic,
Institute of Planners (September 1975): pp. 317–18;
Imperialistic and Moralistic Dimensions’; Carina
Paul Davidoff, ‘Advocacy and Pluralism in Planning’,
Listerborn, ‘Who speaks? And who listens? The
97
relationship between planners and women’s partici-
stockholmsdebatt/husbys-invanare-ignoreras-nar-
pation in local planning in a multi-cultural urban
omradet-ska-fortatas>
environment’, GeoJournal, 70, 1 (February 23,
“Nätverket Järvas Framtid,” jarvasframtid.se, 2011,
[accessed 13 July 2013].
2008), pp. 61–74; Markus Miessen, The Nightmare
[accessed 20 May 2013].
of Participation: (Crossbench Praxis as a Mode of
13. Kerstin Ekberg, Här bor journalisterna (Stockholm,
Criticality) (New York: Sternberg Press, 2010); Margo
2007),
Huxley, ‘The Limits to Communicative Planning’,
area/studier/Har_bor_journalisterna.pdf>
Journal of Planning Education and Research, 19, 4 (2000), pp. 369–77.
[accessed 10 September 2013]. 10. Ibid.
Notes 1. Aleksandra
11. Jane Rendell, Art and Architecture (London: IB Kędziorek
and
Łukasz
Stanek,
Tauris, 2006); What Is Critical Spatial Practice?, ed.
‘Architecture as a Pedagogical Object: What to
by Nikolaus Hirsch and Markus Miessen (Berlin:
Preserve of the Przyczółek Grochowski Housing
Sternberg Press, 2011).
Estate by Oskar & Zofia Hansen in Warsaw?’, Architektúra & Urbanizmus, 46, 3-4 (2012), pp. 2-21, p. 17. 2. Alois Riegl, ‘The Modern Cult of Monuments: Its Character and Its Origin’, in Oppositions Reader, ed. by K. Michael Hays (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1998), pp. 621-53.
12. Philipp
Oswalt,
Klaus
Overmeyer
and
Philipp
Misselwitz, Urban Catalyst: The Power of Temporary Use (Berlin: DOM Publishers, 2013). 13. Manuel De Sola Morales, A Matter of Things (Rotterdam: NAi Publishers, 2008). 14. See, for example, Claire Colomb, ‘Pushing the Urban Frontier: Temporary Uses of Space, City
3. Gregory J. Ashworth and John E. Tunbridge, The
Marketing and the Creative City Discourse in 2000s
Tourist-Historic City (Chichester: John Wiley & Sons,
Berlin’; Stephan Lanz, ‘Be Berlin! Governing the City
1994).
through Freedom’, International Journal of Urban and
4. [accessed 10 September 2013].
Regional Research, 37, 4 (2012), pp. 1305-24; Maroš Krivý, ‘Don’t Plan! The Use of the Notion of ‘Culture’ in
5. See, for example, Peter Bauer, ‘Panelový dům a
Transforming Obsolete Industrial Space’, International
design [Panel House and Design]’, Architektura ČSR,
Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 37, 5
172
(2013), pp. 1724-46. 15. Pier V. Aureli, The Project of Autonomy (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2008).
Biography Maroš Krivý is currently Invited Professor of Urban Studies at the Faculty of Architecture, Estonian Academy of Arts.
16. Pier V. Aureli, The Possibility of an Absolute
In 2012 he obtained a PhD in Urban Studies from the
Architecture (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2011).
University of Helsinki. Among his publications are ‘Don’t
17. Maurizio Lazzarato, ‘Immaterial Labour’, in Radical
Plan! The Use of the Notion of ‘Culture’ in Transforming
Thought in Italy: A Potential Politics, ed. by Paul
Obsolete Industrial Space’ (International Journal of Urban
Virno and Michael Hardt (Minneapolis; London:
and Regional Research, 2013) and ‘Industrial Architecture
University of Minnesota Press, 1996), pp. 133-47;
and Negativity: the Aesthetics of Architecture in the Works
Christian Marazzi, Capital and Affects: The Politics
of Gordon Matta-Clark, Robert Smithson and Bernd and
of the Language Economy (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT
Hilla Becher’ (Journal of Architecture, 2010). Maroš is also
Press, 2011); Rosalind Gill and Andy Pratt, ‘In the
a visual artist and researcher. His project New Coat of
Social Factory?: Immaterial Labour, Precariousness
Paint was exhibited at the Hobusepea Gallery in Tallinn
and Cultural Work’, Theory, Culture & Society, 25, 7-8
(2013), and was included in the Alternativa festival organ-
(2008), pp. 1-30.
ised by IS Wyspa in Gdańsk (2013). He was the winner of
18. For the debate on the Miesian plinth, see Pier V. Aureli, The Possibility of an Absolute Architecture, pp. 34-46. 19. Gilles Deleuze, ‘Postscript on the Societies of Control’, October, 59 (Winter 1992), pp. 3-7; Gilles Deleuze, ‘Control and Becoming (in conversation with Antonio Negri)’, Futur Anterieur, 1 (Spring 1990) [accessed 10 September 2013]. 20. Pier V. Aureli, The Possibility of an Absolute Architecture, pp. 40-1. 21. Pier V. Aureli and Martino Tattara, ‘A Simple Heart: Architecture on the Ruins of the Post-Fordist City’, Architectural Design, 81, 1 (2011), pp. 110-19, p. 119.
the Sittcomm award (2011).
173
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