Praxis Communis: The Rituals, Pleasures and Politics of Cooperation

Lecture_3. 21.11.2016

Praxis Communis: The Rituals, Pleasures and Politics of Cooperation

As fields with the power to alter people’s cities and neighborhoods - and indeed therefore their lives – architecture and urbanism are often conceived as controversial disciplines. Citizens have learned to be suspicious of any plans for development in places they care about, often turning architecture and urbanism into villains to be fought.

Architectural and urban design practice has seen important experiments, which have understood the project no longer as an exclusively professional matter but rather as a case of ?commoning? between different urban actors. Projects such as the NDSM wharf and De Ceuvel in Amsterdam, Luchtsingel in Rotterdam, Prinsessinnengarten in Berlin, and the Yale Building Project in New Haven, have called into question the character of the architectural project by emphasizing co-production in development and realization.

In such projects, the praxis of the architect is increasingly linked to the multiple actions of other actors: emphasis is placed on the co-productive nature of the enterprise. The urban territory, the knowledge and skills of citizens are understood as immanent sources that are unlocked, activated and managed. Are the impulses we detect in these projects the prefiguration of a new interpretation of the architectural project for the city as a common practice?