Give Them a Chance

If only we gave the people a hammer and a nail - boy what they could do. AND what they would enjoy.

I mean think about it, if the text states "...each person and entity is constructing spaces and places with the acts of daily life." then we already have infrastructure that city planners, urban designers, and architects didn't dream up. So why not leverage that opportunity to really design for the users that actually inhabit the buildings and areas? Okay, giving random people a hammer and nail might be extreme, but the analogy stays the same - if we just listen to what people need and want for their daily lives then we create better places with our knowledge as designers and builders.

I think the Everyday Urbanism text overlaps with last weeks TED Talk quite a bit. In his last example, he showed two projects that allowed the community to give their feedback and suggestions. The first, a housing project, had a tight budget - and therefore the design was "half" a house which allowed for the resident to then add the rest of the house as they see fit. This by no means turned into an aesthetically "ugly" project because the people inhabiting these spaces actually care about where they live; we just need to give the people a little more credit. The second project he presented was originally positioned as a barrier from a tsunami - but in the end, once he listened to the people, all they actually needed was a place to connect to the natural environment and reduce the effects of flood. This project ultimately turned into a public "forest"/park that connected the housing to the water. Both these example are in line with this weeks text because simply put, people just need space to live their lives and it doesn't need to be complicated if we just listen.

I would be interested to see further examples or any ways my classmates suggest we do this in the future given the policy barriers and "correct" ways of designing and building the urban landscape. I think the last thing that I took away from this reading was that we cannot be "prescriptive" in what we design as architects... Food for thought.

Alejandro Aravena: Housing in Chile

"Perfect Street" - prescripted by urban planners

Alejandro Aravena: Tsunami Planning

Also... If you haven't yet, give the Taco Chronicles "pastor episode" a watch on Netflix. The car shop that was taco stand by night example in Everyday Urbanism reminds me of this quick 30 minute episode.