ABSTRACT
Architects Constant in Petcou and Doina Petrescu, found atelier d'architecture autogre (aaa) in Paris in 2001. Their goal was to bring about a much needed and truly resilient urban regeneration involving residents in the transformation of their neighbourhoods, through a process of radically new collective dynamics. R-Urban is not only about "sustainability" but also about societal change and political and cultural reinvention, addressing issues of social inequality, power and cultural difference. The "self-managed architecture" is an architecture of relationships, processes and agencies of persons, desires, skills and know-hows. Aaa sees its role as necessary skills and opportunities for people to invent their own jobs as part of an alternative economy, which is not only financial, but also social, cognitive and affective. Ecohab is a cooperative eco-housing project. It has shared facilities and schemes including car sharing, food growing, production spaces, and energy and water harvesting, as well as two public housing units and temporary residential unit for students and researchers.
