Tag: participatory-design | ArchDaily

The Inheritance Problem: Urban Planning and Community Engagement in U.S. Cities

Olivia Poston — Wed, 08 Jul 2026 04:00:00 +0000

Urban planning is often confused with adjacent disciplines: urban design, environmental policy, civic strategy, local politics, and data analytics. Truthfully, the overlap makes the field difficult to define clearly. In practice, it is often easier to recognize bad planning than to articulate what good planning is. When planning works well, it disappears. It removes friction from daily life so completely that people rarely think to credit a planner at all. At its core, urban planning is the relationship people have with their environments, and when that relationship is functioning, the mechanics of housing, transportation, affordability, access, and inclusion should feel ordinary and expected.

City-Making Through Participation: Lessons from Utopian Hours 2026

Mohieldin Gamal — Fri, 19 Jun 2026 07:30:00 +0000

Who has the right to the city? Henri Lefebvre's writings question the structures that control urban space and, instead, put the citizens at the center of decision-making. His ideas have influenced the way architecture and urban design are practiced, bringing about community participation and co-design. These have been some of the most prominent themes at Utopian Hours 2026, the festival of city-making, the first part of which was held in the Dutch city of Rotterdam to mark its tenth anniversary edition.

PREVI Lima and the Politics of Resident Authorship in Social Housing

Ananya Nayak — Tue, 09 Jun 2026 07:30:00 +0000

Architects are accustomed to being credited for buildings long after construction ends. Names remain attached to projects through photographs, publications, and histories, often decades after the original drawings were produced. Buildings, on the other hand, rarely remain faithful to that narrative for long. Families grow, technologies change, businesses emerge, and daily life introduces demands that no plan can fully anticipate. Over time, architecture accumulates modifications, repairs, additions, and improvisations that gradually distance it from its original form.

When Architecture Moves: Kinetic Design and the Rituals of Space

Olivia Poston — Wed, 27 May 2026 04:00:00 +0000

For centuries, architecture has been defined by unmoving permanence. A building is assumed to be fixed, its walls and foundation immobile in space. A growing number of architects are now challenging this assumption by incorporating movement into the very fabric and tectonic structures of buildings.

Architecture that Empowers Communities: The Stories Behind Francis Kéré’s Projects

Agustina Iñiguez — Sat, 09 May 2026 07:30:00 +0000

"My only concern is that my work must have a positive impact on the communities in which it is embedded," states Francis Kéré in his book Francis Kéré: Building Stories. His own life story, the context in which he was raised, and the experiences he has lived through all shape his approach to architecture. It is a commitment that extends to people and the places they call home—one that values materiality, collective learning, and the exchange of knowledge. Discovering the stories behind projects such as Primary School in Gando and Naaba Belem Goumma Secondary School inspires reflection on how to design spaces that truly serve humanity.

Public Space in Use: Región Austral and the Architecture of Everyday Life

Daniela Andino — Sun, 26 Apr 2026 07:30:00 +0000

Architecture is often evaluated through what gets built. But in many cases, what matters happens after: how spaces are used, adapted, and made part of everyday life. For Región Austral, winner of ArchDaily's 2025 Next Practices Awards, this is where design really begins. Working across many contexts, the practice approaches public space not as a single object, but as something that needs to be activated, negotiated, and sustained over time. Their projects focus less on defining form and more on creating the conditions for use, with design serving as the starting point.

Atelier Tsuyoshi Tane Architects Designs Sea of Time – TOHOKU in Fukushima, Japan

Reyyan Dogan — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 06:30:00 +0000

Located in Tomioka, Fukushima Prefecture, Sea of Time – TOHOKU is both an artwork by Tatsuo Miyajima and an architectural project commissioned by the artist. Designed by Japanese architect Tsuyoshi Tane of Atelier Tsuyoshi Tane Architects (ATTA), the project envisions a permanent museum to house Miyajima's artwork. Currently under development from 2024 to 2027, with an anticipated opening in spring 2028. Positioned on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean, the proposal brings together architecture and installation within a site shaped by the memory of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, framing both the landscape and its historical context as integral components of the design.

Designing With, Not For: CatalyticAction’s Participatory Practice

Daniela Andino — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 05:00:00 +0000

Architecture is often evaluated through finished forms, yet some practices operate in a different register, one where design unfolds through relationships, time, and use rather than through a single outcome. For CatalyticAction, participation is not a parallel social activity, but the means through which spaces are conceived, constructed, and sustained over time.

“Users Are the Experts on Themselves”: How People Shape the Spaces They Use

Kiana Buchberger — Mon, 16 Feb 2026 07:45:00 +0000

Does design guide usage, or does usage guide design? Students struggle to maintain focus, employees flinch under harsh lighting, and occupants withdraw from rigid spaces, often in response to environmental conditions that only become visible once a space is occupied. Light falling across a room, the resonance of sound, the texture of surfaces, or the rhythm of circulation can support focus, calm, or inspire creativity, but each can also inadvertently heighten stress and distraction. Architects and designers are exploring and questioning: how are design decisions informed, and whose knowledge is considered essential in shaping space?

Framing Life Through Voids and Verandahs: The Architecture of pk_iNCEPTiON

Ananya Nayak — Sun, 01 Feb 2026 08:30:00 +0000

Founded as a practice working across architecture and community-focused projects, pk_iNCEPTiON is based in Maharashtra, India. The studio, one of the winners of the ArchDaily 2025 Next Practices Awards, works on rural schools, houses, libraries, and public buildings, with a focus on spatial organization and adaptability. Operating across varied social and climatic contexts, pk_iNCEPTiON approaches design through careful attention to movement, scale, and the relationship between built form and open space.

EU Mies Awards Shortlist and MVRDV’s Fluid Facade in Beijing: This Week’s Review

Reyyan Dogan — Thu, 15 Jan 2026 07:30:00 +0000

Spanning multiple geographies and scales, this week's architecture news reflects ongoing discussions around long-term planning, institutional frameworks, and the public role of architecture. National-scale urban initiatives and large civic developments point to how planning and infrastructure are being used to reorganize cities and territorial systems, while parallel attention to stadiums, cultural facilities, and mixed-use projects highlights the expanding civic ambitions of large-scale architecture. Alongside these, interviews and heritage-focused projects foreground participatory practices and the careful reuse of existing structures, highlighting architecture's capacity to operate within complex social and political conditions. Recognition platforms and professional programs further situate these practices within a broader architectural discourse, offering insight into how contemporary work is evaluated and shared across regions.

Architectural Authorship in the Age of the Collective Practices

Diogo Borges Ferreira — Wed, 17 Dec 2025 07:30:00 +0000

This article is part of our new Opinion section, a format for argument-driven essays on critical questions shaping our field.

Cities Need Care, Not Perfection: Rethinking How We Build the Urban Future

Olivia Poston — Sat, 29 Nov 2025 07:30:00 +0000

What does optimism feel like in cities that can no longer rely on perfection as their ultimate ambition? Across the world, urban environments bear the weight of overlapping pressures: climate volatility, spatial inequality, political fragmentation, public distrust, and chronic infrastructural disinvestment. These realities render the idea of an ideal city increasingly detached from lived experience. Yet the hope for building better systems persists. While utopian visions may seem like an escape from the growing complexities of the modern world, the greater challenge for contemporary city-making is to confront those complexities rather than avoid them.

Building Knowledge, Not Just Structures: Redefining the Architect’s Role in Times of Uncertainty

Eduardo Souza — Sat, 01 Nov 2025 07:30:00 +0000

Aristotle is credited with the proverb "One swallow does not make a summer." In nature, the arrival of these migratory birds often announces the change of seasons, a universal symbol of renewal and hope. Yet it is only when many take flight that the true warmth of summer begins. The same can happen in architecture: an isolated project, however exemplary, rarely changes a reality on its own. When, however, a work teaches, inspires, and can be replicated, it becomes the harbinger of something greater.

Teaching Empathy: New Approaches to Architecture Education in Latin America

Camilla Ghisleni — Wed, 17 Sep 2025 07:30:00 +0000

Historically, the first universities in the contemporary model were established in Europe to educate elites for the State and the Church, rather than to promote social emancipation. With the rise of capitalism, they became privileged centers for producing and reproducing modern Western culture. However, from the 1960s onward—particularly after the student uprisings of May 1968—the academic focus shifted toward market-oriented values, displacing humanist and critical ideals. The humanities lost prominence, while technical fields gained central importance, often at the expense of reflecting on the social impact of their work.

Insights from La Feria De Diseño Medellín: Well-Being, Innovation, and Global Design Perspectives

Enrique Tovar — Mon, 08 Sep 2025 06:45:00 +0000

Asking questions is the first step toward challenging what we take for granted and opening up new possibilities for planning and building. These questions, valuable in themselves, gain new strength when shared and examined through different perspectives. As they intersect with the experiences of professionals and brands, they weave together viewpoints that enrich the discussion. Design fairs and events around the world have become spaces where these conversations gain momentum, fostering connections and encouraging collaborative dynamics. In this landscape, Colombia has emerged as a hub, serving as a platform that promotes architecture and design across Latin America and the Caribbean while bringing the region's voice to the global stage.

Architecture and Agency: Rethinking Authorship Through Participatory Design

Jonathan Yeung — Sat, 23 Aug 2025 07:30:00 +0000

Architecture has historically produced many iconic buildings shaped by singular visions—often designed unilaterally for users, communities, and cities. While this top-down approach has enabled strong formal coherence and conceptual clarity, it has also prioritized authorship over engagement. The result: projects that may be celebrated as visionary, yet often feel disconnected from the everyday realities of those who inhabit them.

The Why, What, and How of Human-Centered and Successful Playground Design

Jeanette Fich Jespersen — Mon, 18 Aug 2025 06:45:00 +0000

By Jeanette Fich Jespersen, MA, Head of the KOMPAN Play Institute, Head of the steering committee of the World Playground Research Institute, University of Southern Denmark, Vice-president of International Play Association, Denmark.