The ‘Diverse Economies’ of Participation

UDALL, Julia M and HOLDER, Anna M (2014). The ‘Diverse Economies’ of Participation. Footprint, 13, 63-80.

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Abstract

This article begins to construct a theory of participation in architecture, urban design and urban planning as a range of practices undertaken across a landscape of economies that largely exists outside of the capitalist economy. These practices themselves overlap in terms of their material forms, bodily and mental activities with the practices undertaken by labour employed to produce the built environment within the capitalist marketplace. With respect to participation, our aim in articulating practices is to move away from a discussion of levels of participation and legitimacy within individual projects and towards an understanding of the organising, productive and reproductive work that is done in participating in the production of the built environment as part of an ongoing process of social change. They proliferate through multiple instances of performance and those who undertake them act as carriers of these practices, including forms of knowhow, understanding, motivational and emotional knowledge, creating resources through these acts of performance. The article contends that participatory practices are liable to be exploited re-presented or co-opted as commodified resources and this fragility limits the socially transformative potential of participation. Drawing on J.K Gibson-Graham’s conception of ‘diverse economies’, an alternative representation is developed to recognize the landscape of practices constructing alternative economic systems, and exploring means and methods of resistance to co-option or enclosure.

Item Type:	Article
Research Institute, Centre or Group - Does NOT include content added after October 2018:	Built Environment Division Research Group
Departments - Does NOT include content added after October 2018:	Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities > Department of Natural and Build Environment
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.7480/footprint.7.2.770
Page Range:	63-80
Depositing User:	Julia Udall
Date Deposited:	31 Jan 2017 13:41
Last Modified:	18 Mar 2021 15:50
URI:	https://shura.shu.ac.uk/id/eprint/14916

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