Understanding Design Justice in a Bottom-up Housing through Digital Actor-Network Mapping

This paper is a study of an ongoing housing project in Brussels (SMH) which involves bottom-up spatial occupation and `making' by activists, activist architects, social workers and citizens. The particular focus of this paper is on the critical spatial agency of the citizens, activist-architects and artefacts for enabling architectural design justice (ADJ) in the SMH. Building on the Actor-Network Theory of Latour (2005) we developed an analytic method called Actor Link Mapping and Analysis (ALMA) which involves data collection from a wide range of network actors, the generation of a variety of digital network maps, making computational analysis, followed by workshops and interviews to discuss the findings. ALMA was used to recognize potential assets which are essential for design justice practices and networks. The analysis revealed the limits to community control of design processes and practices as well as limits to the conceptual links surrounding socio-spatial equality, thus limits to design justice in the SMH project. Our research also revealed a plethora of new roles and agencies in bottom-up housing production which were essential to understanding the dynamics and power distribution among the different actors.

ISBN:978-86-6022-358-8

Publication year:2021

Accessibility:Open