Abstract
Practices of commercial and social exchange that are common vehicles of public life in many Global South cities–street markets, hawkers, roving services, temporary and festive markets–have long been left out of formal notions of architecture as well as the economies to which they contribute. What would an urban architecture that provides robust support to these actors and urban practices entail? Can architecture reframe the question of the public to account for the latter’s plurality and activity in cities, and in so doing reconsider its own spatial, formal agency? Foregrounding participatory practices, and drawing on urban construction on the streets of Ahmedabad, the essay speculates on the potential of re-imagining the architectural artefact as prompt, stage, and host. “Building Deterritorialized” probes the artefactual imaginary implied in the opportunistic constructions of urban entrepreneurs on the streets of today’s World Cities. These constructs point to a tactical potential hiding in plain sight for opening architecture within the increasingly exclusionary spaces of neoliberal development. This paper draws on Asef Bayat’s analysis of the non-movement and recent writing on agonism and polity to reflect upon broader implications of this thought experiment.
Presenters
Lily ChiAssociate Professor, Department of Architecture, Cornell University, New York, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
2025 Special Focus—The Art of Hospitality
KEYWORDS
Critical Design Practice, Open Architecture, Urban Informality, Architecture and Politics
