Urban Software Update

Striving for improvement of world through the built environment is a wonderful romantic concept and I doubt that any architect would deliberately choose not to espouse this idea in their work. However the reality of practice in a non-rural setting where social and political structures provide strict rules for practice make smaller interventions less plausible. Providing an architecture of necessity, such as the small shelters by Rural Studio, or even the small social pavilions are something that do not translate to a more urban setting where much of the world’s population resides.

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I do not disagree that the problems of injustice that face social groups are not spatial, however without change to the political structure much of these problems will remain. A responsible architect should understand that their work has an effect beyond its walls, but when such strong invisible barriers exist the ability to influence the environment weakens. The example of “Renew Newcastle” provides an excellent example of how change at the “software” level can lead to physical change, but it does require a wholescale critique and restructuring in the operations and legislature in a city in order to work, which is certainly a tall order that many architects may not be prepared to take on.

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