ABSTRACT

This chapter analyses theory on the relationship between socio-cultural organization and the design process to citizen participation in the design of low-cost housing. Types of participation are presented and evaluated relative to introducing social and cultural factors into the design of low-cost housing. The relationship between man’s social and physical well-being and his material existence is influenced dramatically by architectural design. Numerous substantive articles and books of great merit have documented the reasonableness and desirability of linking the design process with human qualities of social and cultural environments and habitats. The traditional antithesis to consumer participation in design is the elitist model which occurs when individuals plan for others. The most important principle of the commune approach is to establish a genuine exchange of power between architect and consumer. Finally, and perhaps of major concern to architecture, consumer participation affects the aesthetic and artistic tradition which has been the central domain of architecture historically.