Architecture, Urban Planning and Social Justice: The Role of Transformative Design in Achieving Spatial Justice

Chapter two sets the theoretical tone for following chapters, by first briefly tracing the historical evolution of architectural design and urban planning as a profession, from pre-capitalist eras to the late-capitalist neoliberal period at the present-time. The two disciplines’ pragmatic/utilitarian approach in the modern era has trained several generations of architectsArchitects and urban planners as technocrats, often with middle- to upper-class origins. However, as is evident in hundreds of published “manifestoesManifestoes” by prominent architects and planners since the early twentieth century, most are oblivious to issues of existing social inequalities, with critical repercussions in their ability to address social justiceSocial justice issues and achieve spatial justiceSpatial justice in their designs. The chapter’s second part is devoted to a critical analysis and discussion of three paradigmatic approaches to design which are at times overlapping, namely, the ‘conservative,’ ‘liberal,’ and ‘progressive-Marxist’—each with their own interpretations regarding issues of social and spatial justiceSpatial justice. The chapter concludes with highlighting the progressive-Marxist approach to design and planning, which recognizes the significance of both production and distribution/consumption sectors in the design of the built environment, a critical recognition that is missing in the other two paradigmatic assumptions. The chapter ends with a note on the importance of architectsArchitects and planners as transformativeTransformative ‘individual’ and ‘collective’ spatial agencies by incorporating social and spatial justice concerns in their designs, albeit with certain social-structural constraints.