ABSTRACT
This chapter1 looks at architecture as an agency of change in Northern Ireland, with emphasis on the challenge to architects concerned with issues of social equity and sustainability. It critically envisages the role of architects within community-regeneration projects in Belfast. It first interrogates the notion of social and professional agency in the Irish Landscape, how such an agency could refine elements of socially informed design and offers analytical examples of two local architects’ work. We further investigate the potentials of such agency of a change in light of current policy regulations and council strategies followed by interviews with the architects and community members to assess how agents of change are currently practising and to uncover potential for changing the ethos of the practice of architecture. This chapter argues that if regeneration projects are to be catalysts of change, architects must go beyond their professional ‘common practice’ attitudes and be more genuine in their interaction with and interpretation of community needs.
