Architects, Planners, and Social Activists as Transformative “Spatial Agents”: Prospects and Limitations

Using American and global examples, the last chapter examines the role of architects, planners, and citizen-activists as “transformative spatial agents” in three different categories: Architects and planners as proxy spatial agents advancing the causes of ordinary and marginalized citizens; citizen-activists acting as spatial agents defending and protecting citizens’ right to a just and equitable access to urban spaces; and architects/planners as proxy “collective spatial agents” serving the interests of global capital guided by neoliberal principles. Related to the first category, in their web-based project entitled Spatial Agency, Schneider and Till distance themselves from conventional architectural practice that train architects as “individual heroes” who often act to advance self-interest; and advocate instead a collaborative approach to spatial design in which architects in various countries act as spatial agents on behalf of ordinary citizens. At times, as part of collective social movements social activists also act on behalf of the marginalized and powerless citizens to level the playing field in terms of access to urban spaces and amenities. The chapter discusses two examples for this category of spatial agents: The actions of Black Lives MatterBlack Lives Matter members inMinneapolis Minneapolis (U.S.) to gain the right to protest in public spaces at a private mega-mall; and collective efforts of a coalition of urban residents to alter the route and design of an interstate highway that has cut through two suburban neighborhoods in the city of Denver (U.S.). However, in an increasingly complex and globally expanded design and planning industry that involves large-scale projects, many architects particularly in the mid-size to large architectural firms have become part of a “collective of expert spatial agents” whose portfolios include projects commissioned and financed by big capital (both private and state-sponsored), and large-scale real estate developers. Using conception and design of The LineThe Line, a proposed futuristic and intelligent megacity financed by Saudi Arabian government and global financiers currently under construction, the chapter highlights the project’s questionable social and political contexts that raise critical questions regarding social and spatial justice issues. Unlike the first two categories that architects, planners and social activists acted as transformative spatial agents defending “common” citizens, in the last example ‘signature’ architects and planners are blindly advancing the interests of global capitalist interests, fueled and supported by anti-democratic neoliberal economic policies. The chapter concludes by acknowledging professional predicaments of architects and spatial planners as educated white-collar workers who are often overworked and underpaid, and their recent efforts to secure a collective voice to demand for workplace improvements both in the United States and Europe.