Empowering Communities
David Harvey highlighted the crucial moment in the theme of
this week’s discussion saying:
“The freedom to make and remake our cities and ourselves is,
I want to argue, one of the most precious yet most neglected of our human
rights”(Harvey 2008).
Harvey discusses “it is a right to change ourselves by
changing the city” and I agree, but I wonder how many people in our world feel
empowered to create change (Harvey 2008)?
In architecture, we are constantly taught to envision something new for
a space and continue to refine it, knowing a project will continue to grow and
change even after it leaves our hands. Thinking
like this is not normal from what I have grasped from conversations with fellow
students. If those of us in architecture
are the majority of people aware of the ability to change our surroundings,
what is our role in working with others in the community to see how we can change
our lives by changing our environments?
Blaine Merker of Rebar, a design group out of San Francisco,
describes one way this is possible through the Park(ing) Days the group set
up. With people encouraged to “take back”
part of their city for a short period of time, it empowers people for
change. They start to see the change is
not something that comes from the outside, but comes from them. This change can be brought into neighborhoods
and change the city in alignment with Jane Jacobs’ idea of “eyes on the street.” Her idea comes from the natural safety felt
in lively public spaces through a kind of social security system. By pairing the ideas of Merker and Jacobs,
can designers set the stage to empower communities to change their own
communities? Could setting up
communities with the proper resources and empowering them serve the people, not
by relinquishing responsibility but be creator of the canvas and frame instead
of the work.
I love your idea of "social security." If people feel a sense of social responsibility, they are much more likely to engage in their surroundings, especially when it gives them a sense of pride and ownership in their own urban landscape.
ReplyDeleteI agree that social responsibility within a community is the best way to generate change, and that sense of responsibility comes from feeling invested in the place you are. At first I thought this might be a challenge for our generation because we are so transient and might not feel as invested in where we are because it is so temporary. However, we have the opportunity to learn from all the places we have lived and see our community with a diverse perspective. Through this lens we have a lot to offer, even if we are only a temporary resident.
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