A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
Despite its popularity, the high-design approach to social design has inherent flaws. This is the case even when the high-design project involves community participation. Indeed, participation in and of itself is not enough to address issues of power that affect the practice of social design as a whole. The mere application of participation does not ensure an equal relationship between practitioners and users. Instead, a possible solution arises when subverting the horizontality of participatory design by adopting a bottom-up approach, in which designers position themselves at the bottom of the design hierarchy. This approach is exemplified here with a water-focused housing project in Guyana, designed by the author following this positionality-shift principle.
Despite its popularity, the high-design approach to social design has inherent flaws. This is the case even when the high-design project involves community participation. Indeed, participation in and of itself is not enough to address issues of power that affect the practice of social design as a whole. The mere application of participation does not ensure an equal relationship between practitioners and users. Instead, a possible solution arises when subverting the horizontality of participatory design by adopting a bottom-up approach, in which designers position themselves at the bottom of the design hierarchy. This approach is exemplified here with a water-focused housing project in Guyana, designed by the author following this positionality-shift principle.
Beyond Participation
Arboleda, Gabriel (author)
Journal of Architectural Education ; 74 ; 15-25
2020-01-02
11 pages
Article (Journal)
Electronic Resource
English
architecture , design/build , social , ethics
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