COMMUNITY ARCHITECTURE

ACTIVE PARTICIPATION OF END USERS

It is always mentioned in Design and Planning courses
INTRODUCTION that the very essence of community architecture is the
Architecture has a major role in the shaping of the active participation of the involved community to the
environment and the society. Improper planning and building process. In a way, it gives them the sense of
wrong assumptions led to disintegration of buildings, pride because they’re the ones who gave the basis and
building complexes, environments, and communities guidelines for the objectives needed to facilitate the
into slums, and the destruction of homes and design and planning processes. Not only that, it also
environment, that are linked with the so-called gives a huge part in making a better, comfortable, and
professionals/experts who didn’t engage themselves suitable spaces for the end-users since they can give
and coordinated with the end users of the building their preferences, their likes and dislikes, and their
process. opinions, as individuals that encompasses a community.
The principles and practice of what is now known In that way, planners can present multiple objectives
COMMUNITY ARCHITECTURE became prominent in the and choices for multiple clients. The planner/designer is
different parts of the world, especially in the United able link the socio-cultural aspects of a place to be
States and the United Kingdom, who were the front developed to the design and planning process.
runners of such movement. Unfortunate events will be avoided if only people will
voice their opinions and assert their rights to the people
Definitions of community architecture are often vaguely responsible for the outcomes, while also
delimited, and can encompass other activities such as designers/planners take note of the important pointers
community planning, community development, of what are being demanded to properly give the best
community technical aid and community landscaping. solutions and alternatives that will surely benefit the
end users while also the surrounding/environment they
THE DEFINITION OF COMMUNITY ARCHITECTURE belong.
In 1986, a pamphlet published by the Royal Institute of
British Architects (RIBA), described that the definition of PARTICIPATION VS. ANTICIPATION
COMMUNITY ARCHITECTURE is a representation of the Upon learning from past mistakes where modern
relationship of the community stakeholders’ architecture and planning failed, community architects
perspectives to the processes and data that support concluded that participation is a better process than
them. Thus, a community architect is defined as an anticipation. Community architecture is said to be an
architect working in consultation with local inhabitants alternative approach to the conventional architecture
in designing housing and other amenities. practice of non-participation of users. It has developed
in many forms around the world with common vision,
Another definition of community architecture is that is a that is, public participation in decisions affecting their
scheme, mainly for housing, that involves a study of the environments and hence their lives.
prevailing social conditions and consultation with the
people who are going to use them. CONVENTIONAL VS. COMMUNITY ARCHITECTURE
Community architecture demands a radical change in
According to a book by Knevitt and Wates, community the relationships between those involved in
architecture is an umbrella term which also embraces development. It is a part of a much broad pattern of
community planning, community design, community change that is emerging in post-industrial societies in
development, and other forms of community technical which traditional cycles of dependence are being
aid. It is focused more on the functional design instead replaced by new frameworks of self-reliance.
of eye-catching design, but nevertheless, do not
compromise the overall appearance of the end product. Most proponents claim that the built product of
In addition to that, community architecture is said to be community architecture is often better than the product
the new VERBACULAR architecture because of the of conventional architecture. It is because, in my own
heavy involvement of people in the design. observation, and based on the previous learnings in
Architecture school, the world is changing, and it is attitude. to users, or
inevitable. The changes it brings are always behave as
interconnected to the people and the community, in they are.
which settlements are also changing drastically to Expert’s role Provider, Enabler,
provide for the contemporary needs and demands of its neutral facilitator,
inhabitants. If we apply the same methods, techniques, bureaucrat, social
and thinking that the community leaders and planners elitist, ONE entrepreneur,
OF THEM, educator, ONE
from the past, and we stick to the traditional ways of
manipulator OF US,
coping to a civilized world, conflicts will always be
of the people manipulator
present because not everything is the same anymore. to fit the of the system
It’s true that conventional architecture is very important system, a to fit the
too in shaping the present and future of the professional people and
architecture field, but it will serve only as guidelines and in the challenger of
basis for other aspects of architecture. We can learn institutional the status
and unlearn from the past shortcomings, sense. quo; a
breakthroughs, and revolutionary innovations of the Remote and professional
past, but we cannot apply it on the same way they inaccessible. as a
applied it before in today’s construction industry. competent
and efficient
adviser.
In the end, community architecture is expected to and
Locally based
will hopefully result to more self sufficient and stable
and
communities with contented and confident members
accessible.
and professionals. Scale of project Generally Generally
large and small,
Conventional Community often responsive
architecture architecture cumbersome. and
Status of user Users are Users are Determined determined by
passive treated as by pattern of the nature of
recipients of clients in land project, the
an which they are ownership local building
environment offered to and the need industry and
developed by take control of for efficient the
professional commissionin mass participants.
experts. g, designing, production Large sites
managing, and and simple generally
evaluating management. broken down
their into
environment, manageable
or sometimes packages.
may be Location of project Fashionable Anywhere, but
physically and wealthy most likely to
involved in existing be urban, or
construction. residential, periphery of
User/expert Little or no Creative commercial urban areas;
relationship direct alliance and and industrial area of single
contact, working areas or multiple
experts may partnership. preferred, deprivation;
attempt to Experts are otherwise a derelict or
consult end commissioned greenfield decaying
users but in a by, and are site with environment.
patronizing accountable infrastructure
 (roads, machine labor and time
power, water intensive, intensive.
supply, capital
drainage, intensive.
etc.,) no End product Static, slowly Flexible,
constraints. deteriorates, slowly
Use of project Likely to be a Likely to be hard to improving,
single multi- manage and easy to
function or functional maintain, manage and
two or three high energy maintain, low
complimenta consumption. energy
ry activities consumption.
(commercial,
housing, From this given table, you can say that the ones who
industrial) wrote it have a really biased opinion about the contrasts
Design style Self- Unselfconscio of conventional and community architecture. But if you
conscious us about style. can really study the historical background of community
about style; Any style may architecture, you can also conclude that community
most likely be adopted as
architecture is the new and improved movement of
international appropriate.
construction. Not that only it leads to a functional
or modern Most likely to
movement. be contextual, society, but also it leads to a sustainable, eco-friendly
increasingly regional community that does not only aim to design for the
one of the (place- structure itself, but also design for the people. This
other specific) with movement is getting its way to manipulate the system
fashionable concern for to fit the people and not the other way around. If the
and identity. Loose design is very right and appropriate to the people, they
identifiable and will not demand a lot of things anymore, which can lead
styles: post- sometimes to low-maintenance structures and low energy
modern, hi- exuberant; consumption.
tech, neo- often highly
vernacular or decorative, SOCIO-CULTURAL BASIS OF CULTURAL DESIGN
classical using local
In each community, there are a variety of individuals
revival. artists.
with different preferences, visions, and psychological
Restrained
and behavior. It’s proven that in designing, it’s not only the
sometimes physiological state of the people, but also their
frigid; psychological traits. They can have different social and
utilitarian. cultural origins and aspects, and it can only be
Technology/ Tendency Tendency responded with making them vocalize their opinions,
resources towards: towards: small needs, and demands.
mass scale
production, production, The community’s culture can be used as a source of
prefabricatio on-site information for the planning, design, and development
n, repetition, construction, of projects that would connect to the user’s characters
global supply individuality, and tradition. Research findings show hat culture-
of materials, local supply of
oriented product have meaningful content that reflect
machine- materials,
the people’s lifestyle as well as provide them with
friendly user-friendly
technology, technology, symbolic personal, cultural, and social values that help
clean sweep reuse, facilitate product acceptance.
and new recycling, and
build, conservation,
This is true because this makes the users feel more at are the ones that are most familiar with what
home with their environments. In addition, the fact that they need and what are their requirements.
the people were involved all throughout the project Their active participation is always needed from
development gives them a sense of pride and in turn the start to avoid more conflictions.
boosts the acceptability of the end products instead of  Involvement of the community members in the
being treated coolly by the people, as most decision making and management of the
conventional architecture end products have community-based projects – if they know what
experienced. they needed, they can visualize their demands,
and therefore vocalize their opinions, and give
Community architecture has become a powerful force their insights in the decision-making process.
for change in the creation and management of human The design is for the people, and if they aren’t
settlements, in which its strength lies in being both an able to assert what they want, they can’t
activity rooted in rediscovered natural laws and broad achieve a community that really is for them.
political movement cutting across traditional
boundaries. While it considers the importance of the EVOLUTION OF COMMUNITY ARCHITECTURE
past experiences of the architecture industry and the It is still indefinite when the COMMUNITY
natural laws that are inevitable in the field of ARCHITECTURE truly did begin, but most claims said it
construction, it focuses heavily on the contemporary was on the latter half of the 20th century.
and suitable way of facing and finding solutions for the
contemporary problems. It is because modern problems In the U.K., community architecture movement started
require modern solutions, and it’s important to consider out in the 1970s. Charles Knevitt is accounted to be the
the relevant events of the social and cultural aspects of person who coined the term in his article in Building
the community. design. However, the activities and principles of
community architecture itself have been around for a
From the early process of the planning, end users are long time. The concept of user coordination in the
considered already to know first hand what they what, planning/design process of building is not entirely new.
what they need, what needs to be better, and all. In this It has been there for a very long time which can be
way, they will feel belonged to a place with diverse traced back from the early civilization and may even be
socio-cultural origins and characteristics. They will earlier.
accept this design, will utilize it, and feel a sense of
pride because they know they are one of the The disappearance of the idea and practice of
components of that design. These things are considered community architecture in the past centuries has ben
to make a highly functional community that will enable accounted to the industrial revolution that happened
its users to take care of it more because they use it two centuries back which made the development of
every time. Building that is not needed by people is just urban areas so rapid that the people and their voices
a waste of time, effort, and resources. are neglected by the responsible people and the
regulation control on building by authorities and the
THREE PRIORITIES FOR ALTERNATIVE DESIGN BASIS emergence of experts/professionals in the field.
AND DEVELOPMENT APPROACHES
 Save what already exists – if a place has a Originally, the movement that community architecture
natural element in which people find something is today can also be traced back to the 1930s from the
sentimental and with great value of, it is a must Urban Renewal measures of the government in both
that it will be saved according to their wishes. If the UK and North America.
it has a historical value that is worth a thousand
stories of the people that used to live with it, it In the UK, Urban Renewal can be directly linked to the
is an obligation to save it. economic boost that the country observed in the post
 Community members be included in the design war period when the attention turned to the
process of both the rehabilitation and new improvement of the living conditions in poor
construction – these people or the end users neighborhoods. The story was the same in the US,
where the Slum Clearance Movement gave birth to
Urban Renewal Policies. In Canada during the ‘dirty
thirties’ attention also turned towards the deplorable
living conditions of the poor.

Housing was seen as the ultimate solution in the

removal of slums. At the same time, the development of
the Modern Movement in Architecture led by architects
like Le Corbusier propagated the notion of high-rise
buildings employing industrial construction techniques
as the future of urban development, resulting in the
adoption of high-rise buildings as a suitable form of
housing the masses and resulted in demolishing existing
slums and replacing them with heavily subsidized high-
rise buildings consisting of apartments in US.

The anticipation of Slum Clearance and Urban renewal

as solutions to all social and physical problems of the
‘blighted areas’ failed to live up to their claims and
expectations. It was assumed that the new high-risers
would eliminate the future development of slums and
despite their initial costs would pay off in the long run.
Neither happened as it soon became apparent to the
government and authorities that it was impossible to
demolish and develop all the slums, which were
growing faster than ever. In addition to this, the
management and maintenance costs of these high-rise
buildings were much higher than traditional houses, the
lack of which resulted in a new set of alarming problems
with the livability of these buildings.

Probably one of the main side effects of the Urban

renewal measures that gave birth to the concept of
community architecture was the disruption of social
networks and communities that existed in the slums
prior to their demolition. People were expected to
move to new locations and leave behind the social ties
that took years to develop in the promise for a better
future. The policy makers and authorities made these
decisions for them, without taking their consent on the
matter.