Community engagement in design practices

About empowerment in cooperative housing projects within Barcelona’s Baix Besòs Area

Tipus de document: Treball de Fi de Màster – Màster universitari en Intervenció Sostenible en el Medi Construït (TFM MISMeC)

Autor/a:

Pluschke, André

Any: 2025

Idioma: Anglès

Descripció:

The precarious housing situation in metropolitan areas like Barcelona, aggravated by neoliberal policies, reinforces urban vulnerability. To counter speculative practices and ensure stability and long-term affordability, a growing number of housing cooperatives are emerging within the metropolitan area of Barcelona and across Catalonia. Driven by the ambition to create more suitable, just and sustainable housing, these cooperatives embrace participatory processes as tools for fostering social cohesion and redistributing power from the hands of elites – including designers – into the hands of users. This research investigates how the designer’s role within these participatory processes impacts resident empowerment, particularly in areas of persistent urban vulnerability. To address this question, a theoretical framework of community empowerment is applied to a qualitative study of housing cooperatives in Barcelona’s Baix Besòs area, which contains over 70% of the metropolis’ most vulnerable neighbourhoods. Interviews with residents and their technical support teams provide dual perspectives on the design process. The research concludes that the collective energy of a cooperative builds negotiation capacity that can challenge the status quo from within restrictive bureaucratic structures. It confirms the potential of cooperativism while also identifying critical factors for its success, such as resident capacities and the integrity of designers. Ultimately, clear guidelines for design professionals are articulated to transition from authors to facilitators and thereby fostering genuine participation for tangible citizen empowerment.

Citació:

Pluschke, A. (2025). Community engagement in design practices : about empowerment in cooperative housing projects within Barcelona’s Baix Besòs Area. Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya.

Paraules clau:

empowerment
participation
cooperative housing
anti-capitalist
dwellings — social aspects
housing, cooperative right to housing
low-income housing — design and construction