Building Democracy: Community Architecture in the Inner Cities

Description

"Building democracy" is a major contribution to the growing public debate about the revival of community values in the face of the self-evident short-comings of the free market, specifically in terms of community architecture. The book provides an historical context and an authoritative account of a movement that is proving surprisingly extensive and enduring. It also examines the relevance of the approach to today's social and environmental problems, particularly in the inner cities. Community architecture was promoted in the early 1980s as the achievement of a handful of pioneering architects finding new ways of working with groups of ordinary people, to help them develop their own homes and community facilities. By the mid-1980s it had established a solid body of theory and practice. Far from being the preserve of the few, it involved a great many architects, planners and building designers who were committed to the principles of user participation and co-operation. They actively pursued their approach through self-help and voluntary groups, in organizing community technical aid, and in seeking to reform the role and structure of local government. "Building democracy" records the achievements of this movement and analyzes its contribution in addressing the problems of inner cities. It begins with the origins of the urban question in the industrialization of the 19th century, which created problems that stayed on the agenda for a hundred years. The large-scale urban redevelopment of the 1960s was but the latest and most concerted attempt to remodel Victorian cities, but it generated widespread public protest which gave rise to organized resistance to the destruction of familiar environments. Out of community action grew new approaches to design, development and construction, which are traced in the central part of the book. Finally, some of the implications are assessed: the need for a new approach in the training of building designers, the reassessment of political attitudes and priorities, and the lessons for today. "Building democracy" will be of practical value to those planners, architects, surveyors and landscape designers concerned with socially relevant design, as students or professionals. It will also be of interest to many people in the voluntary sector and in local government. Its relevance to policy-making in the search for lasting solutions to intensifying urban problems is very clear.