Often, there is a range of stakeholders in community-based architectural and urban projects, where some belong to poor or marginalised groups and remain unheard and unseen. Can an architect give a voice to the voiceless? This question has intrigued and inspired me. Can a process of democratic participation in the creation of architecture help by including people of all races, classes, ages and geographies? Can this lead to a co-production of ‘social space’ (Lefebvre 1991) that builds capacity of all involved in the architectural project, so that instead of upward answerability, downward or horizontal accountability is emphasised (Eade, 2007)? Involvement of the residents in decision making further empowers them to take responsibility and resolve their problems. Lefebvre’s notion of ‘right to the city’ is about empowering the users of the space (Lefebvre 2002, p. 2), which calls for a paradigm shift in the way we conceive the role of an architect. The architect needs to be a facilitator who recognises the user as potential resource and involves him/her in creating an architecture that is socially and culturally responsive.

Curtin University Australia and a non-government organisation Indian Rural Education Development began its engagement in 2009 with a small village of Lakhnu situated in the Northern Province of India. Since then, an internal project team has been established comprising key researchers from a variety of discipline areas – Urban and Regional Planning, Construction Management, Architecture and Interior Architecture, Anthropology, Media and Cultural Studies. The project team has led four staff and student fieldwork expeditions to Lakhnu, where extensive primary research and community engagement has been undertaken to provide a comprehensive needs analysis of the village and its residents.  Four key areas have been considered: Sanitation, Education, Heritage and Health, with an overall aim of capacity building for the local community and upliftment of women and girls. Two co-build projects – an Edu-Play Facility and Women’s Wash Facility – have been constructed. The broader goal has been to enhance greater understanding of effective ways of supporting social transformation in the face of poverty, illiteracy and inequality.

THIS TALK WILL OUTLINE STRATEGIES AND CHALLENGES IN MEETING THE ABOVE GOALS.

The last few years have seen a growth in the philanthropic agenda of the corporate world, and a revision of university curricula with an aim of mobilising the broader community to become co-producers of a sustainable built environment which responds to global issues of climate change, urbanisation, persistent poverty and social inequality.  This paradigm shift offers immense possibilities for architecture and urban design students to skill themselves with tools and techniques of effective collaboration, participation and team-based approaches to problem solving, and to become champions of enabling architecture and urbanism.