We The People – Design, Democracy and the City

On monday 18 November, Wouter Vanstiphout gave the second lecture in a series of three for students at Delft University of Technology.

After the Money lecture last September, we will now take you on a journey along architecture projects in order to explore their democratic value. From large iconic projects as a representation of democracy, like the Houses of Parliament in London, or the National Mall in Washington DC to small-scale, “big society-like” participation projects as the stadsinitiatief. Obviously we will also take the ‘bumpy road’ whereas not every project is received as positively by the public; leading to large protests, sometimes even causing riots, and –if lucky– a political referendum. And what about the freedom to protest in (privatized) public space? Will we find common ground and in that way, make design socially significant and politically relevant again?

menu