AP – 02: RESPONSIVE ARCHITECTURE The Four Layers of CDA

Simultaneous Movement Systems - The four layers interact, cross-fertilize, and feed
one another
- Paths along which city-dwellers move or are
transported, three concepts must be
considered:
• Relationship of mass and space
• Continuity of experience
• Simultaneous continuities

- The idea is that the built environment should

provide its users with an essentially democratic
setting, enriching their opportunities by
maximizing the degree of choice available to Social - the network of relationships,
them. collaboration, communication and
coordination, with supporting agreements,
principles, metrics, leadership roles, decision
Responsive Architecture:
making etc. need to create open and trusting
• Permeability – it affects where people can interactions.
go, and where they cannot Business - financing, attracting and allocating
• Variety – it affects the range of uses resources (two-way value propositions).
available to people business model to ensure sustainability.
• Legibility – it affects how easily people can Knowledge - the body of available knowledge
understand what opportunities it offers (intellectual capital) to be upgraded to meet
• Robustness – it affects the degree to which new challenges, by orientation, exploration,
people can use a given place for different reflection, sense-making, and shared memory
purposes. Technology - an advanced online environment
• Visual Appropriateness – it affects with a wide range of tools to support
whether; the detailed appearance of the collaboration. communication and
place makes people aware of the choices coordination in an efficient, effective and
available enjoyable way.
• Richness – it affects people’s choice of
sensory experience A well-designed architectural framework should
• Personalization – it affects the extent to let the community:
which people can put their own stamp on
the place • Reduce mistakes due to approaches to
community design, that don't account for
the complexity of what is required to
AP – 03: COMMUNITY DESIGN ARCHITECTURE cultivate coherent and productive
conversations in cyberspace.
- The Community Design Architecture (CDA) is • Orient Evaluation of choices and tradeoffs
a systemic, highly scalable and robust among numerous design options, guided by
methodology for the facilitated co-evolution of a small set of generative design principles
communities of practice, other forms of co- • Coordinate collaboration between design
earning communities, and knowledge team, community members, sponsor,
networks, with their virtual learning facilitator and all those who have a stake in
environments the community's success.
- People and their communities in value- • Foster co-evolution of self-organizing
creating relationships, with continuous access "emergence" and deliberative "design,"
to their shared knowledge, both of which are mirroring the co-evolution of the
supported by enabling technologies community with its enabling architectures.
-
 • Establish coherence of design, by cycling which is the richest source of emergence
through the key design dimensions, in re- through idea recombination.
iterative loops. 3. Transformational Design
• Chart an optimal course of the project, - Design is a matter of choice; it's the
that takes into account the artful use of freedom and constraints for
interdependence of the four design areas-- maximizing the communities' and their
community, knowledge, business, and members' potential to create value with
technology and their systemic the designed environment.
interdependence. - The "transformational design" principle
• Focus attention and other resources, first, is concerned with ensuring that all tools,
on the critical path of design. structures, and processes are optimized
for continually meeting the user
communities evolving learning needs
Design Principles: and aspirations.
4. Innovation Focus
1. Designing for Emergence - The principle of "innovation focus" is
- Communities are complex adaptive concerned with 4 architectural layers as
social systems characterized by the 4 domains of innovation, and with their
phenomenon of "emergence." It means cross-pollination. The measure of
that they can produce surprising new innovation value of each is in the value of
capabilities through the differentiation new possibilities that they can open to
and integration of their members' the community.
capabilities. They cannot be planned or - For example, good design brings social
"engineered" like a formal organization. and knowledge innovation into interplay
- They include all tools and process that with one another and with business and
foster the following activities: technical innovation. That interplay will
• spontaneity and individual and group lead to more consistently high returns
creativity than environments strong in only one or
• member initiatives and two dimensions of innovation.’
experimentation
• various forms of member-to-member
interactions General Principles of Community Planning
• opportunities for group formation at the
lowest possible transaction cost • Accept different agendas
2. Productive Conversations People will want to be involved for a
- A key process for fostering the variety of reasons, for instance,
emergence of new meaning and academic inquiry, altruism, curiosity, fear
solutions in communities is the re- of change, financial gain, neighborliness,
combination of ideas born in productive professional duty, protection of interests,
conversations. and socializing. This need not be a
- That recombination occurs mainly in problem, but it helps to be aware of
conversations people's different agendas.
- The principle of "productive • Accept limitations
conversations" is concerned with No community planning activity can
designing into the system the capacity to solve all the world's problems. But that is
sustain networks of coherent dialogues not a reason for holding back. Limited
and productive inquiries involving any practical improvements will almost
number of members and their always result, and community planning
communities, across distance and Time. activity can often catalyze more
- "Across time" implies that there should fundamental change.
be explicit provision to promote the • Accept varied commitment
synergy of real-time (synchronous) and Far too much energy is wasted
delayed-time (asynchronous) dialogues, complaining that certain people do not
 participate when the opportunity is realistic about the practical options
provided. We could spend our lives many available.
times over working to improve the local • Build local capacity
environment. Everyone has their Long-term community sustainability
priorities in life and these should be depends on developing human and
respected. If people do not participate it social capital. Take every opportunity to
is likely to be because they are happy to develop local skills and capacity. Involve
let others get on with it, they are busy local people in surveying their situation,
with things which are more important to running their programs and managing
them, or the process has not been made local assets.
sufficiently interesting. • Communicate
• Agree rules and boundaries Use all available media to let people
There should be a common know what you are doing and how they
understanding by all main interest groups can get involved. Community
of the approach adopted. Particularly in newspapers or broadsheets are
communities where there is fear - for invaluable.
instance, that others may be trying to • Encourage collaboration
gain territorial advantage - it is vital that Create partnerships wherever possible
the rules and boundaries are clearly between the various interest groups
understood and agreed upon. involved and with potential contributors
• Avoid jargon such as financial institutions.
Use plain language. Jargon prevents • Flexibility
people from engaging and is usually a Be prepared to modify the processes as
smokescreen to hide incompetence. circumstances dictate. Avoid inflexible
Ignorance or arrogance. methods and strategies.
• Be honest • Focus on attitudes
Be open and straightforward about the Behavior and attitude are just as, if not
nature of any activity. People will more, important than methods.
generally participate more Encourage self-critical awareness,
enthusiastically if they know that handing over control, personal
something can be achieved through their responsibility, and sharing.
participation (e.g., if there is a budget for • Follow-up
a capital project). But they may be quite Lack of follow-up is the most common
prepared to participate 'at risk' providing failing, usually due to a failure to plan
they know the odds. If there is only a and budget for it. Make sure you set aside
small chance of positive change because time and resources for documenting,
of people participating, say so. Avoid publicizing, and acting on the results of
hidden agendas. any community planning initiative.
• Be transparent • Go at the right pace
The objectives and people's roles should Rushing can lead to problems. On the
be clear and transparent at events. For other hand, without deadlines things can
instance, it may seem trivial but the drift. Using experienced external advisors
importance of name badges to prevent may speed up the process out often at
events being the preserve of the 'in- the expense of developing local capacity.
crowd' can never be stressed enough. Get the balance right.
• Be visionary yet realistic • Go for it
Nothing much is likely to be achieved This is the phrase used most by people
without raising expectations. Yet dwelling who have experienced community
entirely on the utopian can be frustrating. planning when asked what their advice
Strike a balance between setting would be to others. You are bound to
visionary utopian goals and being have doubts; it is usually a leap in the
 dark. But you are unlikely to regret taking afraid of experienced 'consultants' but
the plunge. choose and brief them carefully.
• Have fun • Local ownership of the process
Getting involved in creating and The community planning process should
managing the environment should not be be 'owned' by local people. Even though
a chore. It can be a great opportunity to consultants or national organizations
meet people and have fun. The most may be providing advice and Itaking
interesting and sustainable responsibility for certain activities, the
environments have been produced local community should take
where people have enjoyed creating responsibility for the overall process.
them. Community planning requires • Maintain momentum
humor. Use cartoons, jokes, and games Regularly monitor progress to ensure that
whenever possible. initiatives are built on and objectives
• Human scale achieved. Development processes are
Work in communities of a manageable invariably lengthy, the participation
scale. This is usually where people at process needs to stay the course. If there
least recognize each other. Where must be a break, start again from where
possible, break up larger areas into a you left off, mot from the beginning.
series of smaller ones. Periodic review sessions can be very
• Involve all those affected valuable in maintaining momentum and
Community planning works best if all community involvement.
parties are committed to it. Involve all the • Mixture of methods
main interested parties as early as Use a variety of involvement methods as
possible, preferably in the planning of the different people will want to take part in
process. Activities in which key players different ways. For instance, some will be
(such as landowners or planners) sit on happy to write letters, others will prefer
the sidelines are all too common and to make comments at an exhibition or
rarely achieve their objectives take part in workshop sessions.
completely. Time spent winning over • Now is the right time
cynics before you start is well The best time to start involving people is
worthwhile. If some people or groups at the beginning of any program. The
cannot be convinced at the outset, keep earlier the better. But if programs have
them informed and give them the option already begun, participation should be
of joining in later on. introduced as soon as possible. Start
• Involve all sections of the community now.
People of different ages, genders, • Personal initiative
backgrounds, and cultures almost Virtually all community planning
invariably have different perspectives. initiatives have happened only because
Ensure that a full spectrum of the an individual has taken the initiative.
community is involved. This is usually far Don't wait for others. That individual
more important than involving large could be you!
numbers. • Plan your process carefully
• Learn from others Careful planning of the process is vital.
There is no need to re-invent the wheel. Avoid rushing into any one approach.
One of the best sources of information is Look at alternatives. Design a process to
people who have done it before. Don't suit the circumstances. This may well
think you know it all. No one does. Be involve combining a range of methods or
open to new approaches. Contact devising new ones.
people from elsewhere who have • Plan for the local context
relevant experience. Visit them and see Develop unique strategies for each
projects; seeing is believing. Do not be neighborhood. Understand local
characteristics and vernacular traditions
 and use them as a starting point for All people, whether literate or not,
planning. Encourage regional and local whether rich or poor, whether children,
diversity. women or men, have a remarkable
• Prepare properly understanding of their surroundings and
The most successful activities are can analyze and assess their situation,
invariably those on which sufficient time often better than trained professionals.
and effort have been given to preliminary Respect local perceptions, choices, and
organization and engaging those who abilities and involve local people in
may be interested. setting goals and strategies.
• Process as important as product • Shared control
The way that things are done is often as The extent of public participation in any
important as the result. But remember activity varies from very little to a great
that the aim is implementation. deal. Different levels are appropriate at
Participation is important but is not an different stages of the planning process
end. but shared control at the planning and
• Professional enablers design stage is the crucial ingredient.
Professionals and administrators should • Spend money
see themselves as enablers, helping Effective participation processes take
local people achieve their goals, rather time and energy. There are methods to
than as providers of services and suit a range of budgets, and much can be
solutions. achieved using only people's time and
energy. However over-tight budgets
usually lead to cutting corners and poor
• Quality not quantity results. Remember that community
There is no such thing as a perfect planning is an important activity, the
participation process. The search for one success or failure of which may have
is healthy only if this fact is accepted. dramatic implications for future
Generally, the maximum participation by generations as well as your resources.
the maximum number of people is worth The costs of building the wrong thing in
aiming at. But any participation is better the wrong place can be astronomical and
than none and the quality of participation make the cost of proper community
is more important than the numbers planning pale into insignificance. Budget
involved. A well-organized even for a generously.
small number of people can often be • Think on your feet
more fruitful than a less well-organized Once the basic principles and language
even for larger numbers. of participatory planning are understood,
• Record and document experienced practitioners will find it easy
Make sure participation activities are to improvise. Avoid feeling constrained by
properly recorded and documented so rules or guidance (such as this
that it can be seen who has been handbook).
involved and how. Easily forgotten, such • Train
records can be invaluable at a later Training is invaluable at all levels.
stage. Encourage visits to other projects and
• Respect cultural context attendance on courses. Build in training
Make sure that your approach is suitable to all your activities.
for the cultural context in which you are • Use facilitators
working. Consider local attitudes to Orchestrating group activities is a real
gender, informal livelihoods, social skill. Without good facilitation, the most
groupings, speaking out in public, and so articulate and powerful may dominate.
on. Particularly if large numbers of people
• Respect local knowledge are involved, ensure that the person (or
people) directing the events has good
 facilitation skills. If not, hire someone
who has.
• Use local talent
Make use of local skills and
professionalism within the community
before supplementing them with outside
assistance. This will help develop
capability within the community and help
achieve long-term sustainability
• Use outsiders, but carefully
A central principle of community
planning is that local people know best.
But outsiders, if well briefed, can provide
a fresh perspective which can be
invigorating. Getting the right balance
between locals and outsiders is
important; avoid locals feeling swamped
or intimidated by 'foreigners"
• Visualize
People can participate far more
effectively if information is presented
visually rather than in words. A great deal
of poor development, and hostility to
good development, is due to people not
understanding what it will look like. Use
graphics, maps, illustrations, cartoons,
drawings, photomontages, and models
wherever possible. Make the process
itself visible by using flipcharts, post-it
notes, colored dots, and banners.
• Walk before you run
Developing a participatory culture takes
time. Start by using simple participation
methods and work up to using more
complex ones as experience and
confidence grow.
• Work on location
Wherever possible, base community
planning activities physically in the area
being planned. This makes it much easier
for everyone to bridge the gap from
concept to reality.