Democratic Design – #3 Democracy and Urban Form

To open the Democratic Design exhibition programme, Richard Sennett delivers a keynote on how architecture and urban design shape social life. He examines how the built environment can encourage interaction and strengthen civic participation – questions at the core of Democratic Design. Sennett’s writing, especially his Homo Faber trilogy – The Craftsman (2008), Together (2012) and Building and Dwelling (2018) – has strongly influenced architects and urbanists, shaping their values and approaches to city-making.

His talk will also draw on his latest book, Democracy and Urban Form, which revisits six landmark lectures delivered at Harvard GSD in 1981. There, Sennett argued that social discourse underpins democracy – and that cities, through their architecture and design, can either empower or constrain it.

Four decades on, as political polarisation persists in both familiar and newly emerging forms, his work returns to an urgent question: If cooperation, collaboration and compromise are the foundations of democracy, how can the design of our cities better support them? More

PROGRAMME

Welcome

Dunya Bouchi, Partner, Aedes, Berlin

Keynote

Richard Sennett, Sociologist/Author, London/New York

Q&A

With the audience and the the protagonists of the exhibition

Followed by the opening of the Aedes exhibition Democratic Design – Space for Cooperation, Collaboration and Compromise

About Democratic Design

In Democratic Design – Space for Cooperation, Collaboration and Compromise, Aedes explores how architecture, planning processes and public spaces can foster democratic engagement and social cohesion – both more urgent than ever in times of profound societal uncertainty. The programme consists of an exhibition, a series of four Lab Talks and a catalogue featuring contributions from practitioners in Berlin, Germany and across Europe, selected through an open call in collaboration with European architecture centres.

At the core of Democratic Design are democratic planning processes and the spaces they create. The presented projects amplify marginalised voices, encourage participation and inspire collective visions for the future. Dialogue and exchange are essential conditions for democracy, cultivating the ability to accept differing viewpoints and to compromise – the very foundations of democratic culture. More

Democratic Design is made possible through the generous support of the Berlin Capital Cultural Fund (Hauptstadtkulturfonds) and additional support from the ZEIT STIFTUNG BUCERIUS.

Image © Rimini Berlin