ABSTRACT
Social architects tend to prioritize process over buildings but, if they do build, the results are often quiet, the product of hard-won consensus and ethical probity, and they do not lend themselves to celebration in glossy magazines. Social interaction is key for wellbeing – the less able a person is the more extreme the impact of the surroundings can be on his or her life. Community involvement in urban design can enrich social networks with direct benefits for social value and wellbeing. Designing the identity of a place, sometimes known as place branding, makes most sense when it is done with the community, for example the 'anti-tabula rasa' work by Crimson with Fashion Architecture Taste at Hoogvliet in the Netherlands. The architecture/planning co-operative URBED provides an excellent exemplar of a practice that focuses on participatory work and the 'visioning' of community, another underexplored aspect of architecture.
