ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that the proliferation of socially-engaged architecture today has emerged in concert with the planetary expansion of neoliberal governance, creating new cultures of architectural knowledge and practice. As state-operated social infrastructures are dismantled, disaster capitalism swells around the globe, and austerity politics abound, social provisions are being radically privatized, aggressively restructuring the state, economy, and society. Architects have sought to make themselves relevant in this climate and the discipline has been transformed, as they have thrown themselves into the fray of humanitarian efforts in light of neoliberalism’s vast social, economic, and political injustices. The chapter casts a wide net over humanitarian, participatory, and activist practices from the 1990s to the present to understand them as part of a cohesive disciplinary practice. It contends that neoliberalism has shaped socially engaged architecture, as disciplinary knowledge is formed in the ambit of economic power structures. Ultimately, this study reveals the possibilities and challenges involved in bringing about social change in light of capitalism’s shifting frontiers.
