No. 15 (2024): Architectural Design as a Co-Creation Process

The central theme of JOELHO 15 is urban architecture of the 20^th and 21^st centuries, with a special focus on the way in which a project is revealed as a space for collective engagement. The processes of producing architecture and urban environments have always arisen from transformations brought about by the collective, i.e. by society. The city, moreover, is the space in which these changes are engraved in our collective memory, their origins embedded in cultural, social, economic-financial, and political phenomena, among others.

The intense social and artistic movements that emerged from the political struggles of the 1960s spurred many European architects to seek new ways to conceive of the public as the ultimate consumers of architecture. Answers were sought to the challenges engendered by the urgent need to house urban populations who were living in precarious conditions; new paradigms for architectural education were being advanced; and the uses of public space in the city became a prominent concern. In response, architects were motivated to explore design practices that involved members of the public in the decision-making process, especially during certain of its stages. Architecture became more deeply embedded in human concerns. Nevertheless Giancarlo De Carlo’s pilot projects for Urbino and Terni, the housing programmes proposed by the Service of Local Ambulatory Support (Serviço de Apoio Ambulatório Local – SAAL), or Sherry R. Arnstein’s theoretical framework (“A Ladder of Citizen Participation”), among other contributions, created a legacy that architectural projects of the later 1980s and 1990s would abandon.¹ This was mainly due to an emerging neoliberal political model, the emergence of the star system in architecture, and the limitations of such participatory processes.

Today, political, sociocultural, economic, financial and, in particular, climate crises pervade the five continents to varying degrees. This has reawakened a need to foster greater dialogue between those responsible for spatial planning—architects, urban planners, and landscape architects—and the publics, whether those who live, study, and work in a particular environment or its visitors. In this context, the promotion of urban regeneration processes is taking place both in the cities’ central areas, in which tourists and a new generation of citizens are welcomed, and in their outskirts, with the aspiration of offering better conditions for the local communities. In many of these processes, citizens are being invited to participate along with design technicians to develop solutions.

This openness of the citizenry to participative processes of urban regeneration has brought about a growth in public awareness of the issues associated with social inclusion and climate change, such as the seventeen sustainable development objectives established by the UN (see https://sdgs.un.org/goals).

Broadly speaking, participatory processes operate on the principle of combating inequalities and guaranteeing an inclusive life for all, as in the case of feminist, intersectional perspectives. The present-day practice of architecture is inherently linked to these global debates. As always, the city constitutes a privileged space where society’s intentions for the future are expressed.

The artistic, social and technical dimensions of the architect’s work, which left a mark on 20^th-century practices, have accordingly evolved to engage different forms of thought and knowledge, leading many architects to rethink their position towards the architectural project. In this revision of the architect’s role, it is now, more than ever, necessary to reflect on new epistemological and evolutionary aims, with attention to the ontological crisis of the city, as the low density of urban sprawl entails challenges to the city as an eminently political entity.

JOELHO 15 explores whether citizen participation in the different stages of the design process has, or may have, tangible consequences for the way the city is projected and experienced.

¹ Sherry R. Arnstein, “A Ladder of Citizen Participation,” JAIP, Vol. 35, no. 4 (July 1969): 216–224.