A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
Politics of social value in the built environment
The built environment can have a major impact on people’s economic prospects, health and wellbeing, and affect their everyday lived experiences. Additionally, due to their high costs, construction investments, which shape the built environment, involve high opportunity costs for society. Following from an increasing awareness of these issues, social value has become a rapidly growing area of research and practice in the built environment, accompanied by policy interest. Despite its popularity, theoretical engagement with the concept of ‘social value’ has been very limited. Particularly, so far, the politics emerging from subjectivity of value(s) have been either ignored or mentioned in a broad-brushed manner. However, the politics need to be considered at the core of any debates relating to social value due to the tensions between different views involved in conceptualising/analysing, creating/implementing and realising/experiencing social value. To address this gap, this paper introduces three types of politics of social value: analytical politics, participatory politics and lived politics. By clarifying these types of politics that are key to any social value consideration in the built environment, this will allow a deeper and more democratic engagement with the concept of social value. Policy relevance Existing policies have so far framed Social value in the built environment as a ‘balancing’ act, where the public’s interests were advised to be taken into consideration in the development of the built environment. In line with this, social value has primarily been approached by researchers and practitioners as a managerial activity, instead of being seen as a transformational impulse to rethink the professions and businesses in the built environment. Thus, the current dominant framing and practices conceal the politics involved in conceptualising/analysing, creating/implementing and realising/experiencing social value in the built environment. The introduction of three types of politics of social value in the built environment can enable improved policy-making. This new basis will explicitly consider the different types of politics involved with social value in the built environment. This will allow for a more democratic development of social value in the built environment.
Politics of social value in the built environment
The built environment can have a major impact on people’s economic prospects, health and wellbeing, and affect their everyday lived experiences. Additionally, due to their high costs, construction investments, which shape the built environment, involve high opportunity costs for society. Following from an increasing awareness of these issues, social value has become a rapidly growing area of research and practice in the built environment, accompanied by policy interest. Despite its popularity, theoretical engagement with the concept of ‘social value’ has been very limited. Particularly, so far, the politics emerging from subjectivity of value(s) have been either ignored or mentioned in a broad-brushed manner. However, the politics need to be considered at the core of any debates relating to social value due to the tensions between different views involved in conceptualising/analysing, creating/implementing and realising/experiencing social value. To address this gap, this paper introduces three types of politics of social value: analytical politics, participatory politics and lived politics. By clarifying these types of politics that are key to any social value consideration in the built environment, this will allow a deeper and more democratic engagement with the concept of social value. Policy relevance Existing policies have so far framed Social value in the built environment as a ‘balancing’ act, where the public’s interests were advised to be taken into consideration in the development of the built environment. In line with this, social value has primarily been approached by researchers and practitioners as a managerial activity, instead of being seen as a transformational impulse to rethink the professions and businesses in the built environment. Thus, the current dominant framing and practices conceal the politics involved in conceptualising/analysing, creating/implementing and realising/experiencing social value in the built environment. The introduction of three types of politics of social value in the built environment can enable improved policy-making. This new basis will explicitly consider the different types of politics involved with social value in the built environment. This will allow for a more democratic development of social value in the built environment.
Politics of social value in the built environment
Mustafa Selçuk Çıdık (author)
2023
Article (Journal)
Electronic Resource
Unknown
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