The Power of "Play-off and Playground" in Urban Planning
Talk at the National Museum of Architecture, Helsinki, Finland by Pedro Aibéo & Mark Linder (Architectural Democracy), 16.09.2023...
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Architectural Democracy
Architectural Democracy
What is Architectural Democracy
A working group of researchers and professionals that explore the relationship between architecture and democracy to make cities more understandable to all stakeholders.
We either sleepwalk our way to automated democracy and isolation or we develop tools for us to plan cities and communities for the kind of people we want to become.
Architectural Democracy started as an academic research in Finland 10 years ago. The term was coined by Pedro Aibéo, proposing a framework of the relationships between architecture and democracy for all stakeholders to better understand the complexity of cities and thus to participate more actively in the planning decisions that affect their lives.
Based on growing interest, active affiliations globally, and a track record of collaborations, Architectural Democracy is now considered a nascent movement, an informal academic discipline, encompassing service architecture and has its own developments. Aibéo & team provide leadership, but by no means is there a centralised doctrine.
Non-ideological approach
Architectural Democracy is not ideological. Informed participation is more effective if ideological constraints are avoided and a better balance of decision-making is pursued. This will reflect needs as well as aspirations, and will result in higher wellbeing, economic efficiency, sustainability, etc.
The challenge
Just as people and institutions in a controlled society don’t know how a democracy works and responds to citizen input, both residents and city planners have imperfect models of participation. We simply do not know how to interact. Architectural Democracy has experience in research, gamification and other forms of engagement.
The core: bigger ideas and collaborations
Aibéo and partners, constitute a design collective to create ideas for larger collaborations, provide storytelling, stakeholder engagement and advocacy expertise. Architectural Democracy has secured academic, foundation sponsorships, and prestigious invitations. Although we are asked to provide services, the ArcDem team has not settled on a business model. Our current focus is building ArcDem’s convening power to create new and more significant collaborations.
The PodCast
A monthly podcast recorded at the Helsinki Open Waves, Caisa Cultural House
""Pedro Aibeo and Mark Linder are doing a great service to the Finnish architectural community in creating a forum for discourse. The focus of the podcast is on participatory design and the way the subject is interrogated is quite rigorous in my opinion. The guest speakers are chosen from a variety of fields and bring with them perspectives, that are not necessarily what you might immediately think about when it comes to the subject.." (Henrik Ilvesmäki)
Books
Public Architecture Future For Europe
Published in Russia in 2019
Social Design for Sustainable Cities
Published in Poland in 2021
Time Space Existence
Publication in Italy in 2021
Towards a more beautiful city
Publication in Finland in 2022
Exhibitions & Debates
Blog
Pedro Aibéo
Aibéo is an internationally awarded Architect (MSc) and Civil Engineer (MSc) with over 50 buildings built in 18 countries. He is also a Vis. Ass. Prof. at UNAM University, Mexico and at Wuhan University of Technology, China. He is the founder of Architectural Democracy.
Mark Linder
Mark's work in public advocacy has led him into sectors where planning policy has been controversial. He has created large scale engagement programs for clients in the US, UK and Venezuela and in Finland. Mark is co-founder of N2 Comms in Helsinki and a Partner in Architectural Democracy.
Hugo Pires
Hugo has published extensively, for example at the National Geographic, most noticeable around his "Morphological Residual Model". He is doing ground-breaking work around photogrammetry.