Tools for building community: An examination of 13 hypotheses

Habitat International

Volumn 20, Issue 3, 1996, Pages 339-347

  Turner, John F C ^a  

^a NONE   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

BEST PRACTICE; COMMUNITY BUILDING; HABITAT II; LOCAL PARTICIPATION; PLANNING TOOL; URBAN DEVELOPMENT;

EID: 0030460273     PISSN: 01973975     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/0197-3975(96)00017-3     Document Type: Article

References (30)

1. In current usage there are two kinds of paradigm: (1) those limited to particular fields or spheres of action, including, I would say, Thomas Kuhn's well-known interpretation of paradigm shift in science and (2) paradigms that underlie shifts in all fields. Fritjof Capra offers the following definition of what I take to be the latter: "A social paradigm, for me, is a constellation of concepts, values, perceptions and practices, shared by a community that forms a particular vision of reality that is the basis of the way the community organises itself. It's necessary for a paradigm to be shared by a community. A single person can have a world view, but a paradigm is shared by a community." F. Capra and D. Steindl-Rast, with T. Matus, Belonging to the Universe, New Thinking about God and Nature (Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, 1992).
2. The distinction between activities that rightfully belong to people in their own communities is critical in my argument. It is based on the premise that those everyday, traditionally vernacular activities, such as child rearing and care for one another, housekeeping and home improvement, are vehicles for being, means to the further ends of life. There is a spectrum of these existentially relevant activities to those procedures in which we are necessarily passive, literal consumers. Travelling as passengers in an aeroplane is an example; the last thing we wish to do is to share responsibility for flying it. Like flight hijackers, corporate hijackers of people's housing are life-threatening.
3. H.E. Daly and J.B. Cobb, For the Common Good, Redirecting the Economy towards Community, the Environment and a Sustainable Future (Beacon Press, Boston, MA, 1989 and Green Print, Merlin Press, London, 1990).
4. E. Hyams, Soil and Civilisation (Thames and Hudson, London, 1955) refers to the "soil community" of which we are members and upon the health of which our lives depend.
5. D. Ehrenfeld. The Arrogance of Humanism (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1978).
6. Among the best known books on these issues are: L. Mumford, Technics and Civilization (Routledge, London, 1943, first published in 1934); S. Giedion, Mechanization Takes Command (Oxford University Press, New York, 1948); J. Ellul, The Technological Society (Vintage Books, New York, 1964, first published in French, 1954); and E.F. Schumacher, Small is Beautiful: a study of Economics as if People Mattered (Blond and Briggs, London, 1973).
7. Among the best known books on these issues are: L. Mumford, Technics and Civilization (Routledge, London, 1943, first published in 1934); S. Giedion, Mechanization Takes Command (Oxford University Press, New York, 1948); J. Ellul, The Technological Society (Vintage Books, New York, 1964, first published in French, 1954); and E.F. Schumacher, Small is Beautiful: a study of Economics as if People Mattered (Blond and Briggs, London, 1973).
8. Among the best known books on these issues are: L. Mumford, Technics and Civilization (Routledge, London, 1943, first published in 1934); S. Giedion, Mechanization Takes Command (Oxford University Press, New York, 1948); J. Ellul, The Technological Society (Vintage Books, New York, 1964, first published in French, 1954); and E.F. Schumacher, Small is Beautiful: a study of Economics as if People Mattered (Blond and Briggs, London, 1973).
9. Among the best known books on these issues are: L. Mumford, Technics and Civilization (Routledge, London, 1943, first published in 1934); S. Giedion, Mechanization Takes Command (Oxford University Press, New York, 1948); J. Ellul, The Technological Society (Vintage Books, New York, 1964, first published in French, 1954); and E.F. Schumacher, Small is Beautiful: a study of Economics as if People Mattered (Blond and Briggs, London, 1973).
10. I use "he", as the old paradigm is essentially paternalistic, which is not to say that women cannot be as authoritarian as men, especially when adopting corporate executive roles.
11. Recent interpretations of what I call general paradigm change include: E. Goldsmith, The Way, an Ecological World View (Rider, London, 1992); H. Henderson, Paradigms in Progress: Life beyond Economics (Adamantine Press, London, 1993); and F. Capra and D. Steindl-Rast, with T. Matus, (1992), see note 1.
12. Recent interpretations of what I call general paradigm change include: E. Goldsmith, The Way, an Ecological World View (Rider, London, 1992); H. Henderson, Paradigms in Progress: Life beyond Economics (Adamantine Press, London, 1993); and F. Capra and D. Steindl-Rast, with T. Matus, (1992), see note 1.
13. Recent interpretations of what I call general paradigm change include: E. Goldsmith, The Way, an Ecological World View (Rider, London, 1992); H. Henderson, Paradigms in Progress: Life beyond Economics (Adamantine Press, London, 1993); and F. Capra and D. Steindl-Rast, with T. Matus, (1992), see note 1.
14. The reader should have a picture that shows the circumstances in which who has done what with what consequences, and what has, or should, have been learned.
15. For self-builders in the USA see: W. Grindley; "Survivors with a Future", in J.F.C. Turner and R. Fichter (eds), Freedom to Build, Dweller Control of the Housing Process, Ch. 1 (Macmillan, New York, 1972), and for self-builders in Peru, see: H. de Soto, El Otro Sendero, la revolucion informal (Editorial La Oveja Negra, Bogotá, 1987).
16. For self-builders in the USA see: W. Grindley; "Survivors with a Future", in J.F.C. Turner and R. Fichter (eds), Freedom to Build, Dweller Control of the Housing Process, Ch. 1 (Macmillan, New York, 1972), and for self-builders in Peru, see: H. de Soto, El Otro Sendero, la revolucion informal (Editorial La Oveja Negra, Bogotá, 1987).
17. The national programme that Gerry Desmond and I were discussing was funded by a large "soft" loan from the Inter-American Development Bank and we had strong support from the late Ernest Weissmann, then Director of the United Nations Centre for Housing, Building and Planning, Habitat's predecessor.
18. J.F.C. Turner, "La Autoconstucción", Desarrollo Económico, 3, 1 (1964).
19. J.F.C. Turner, A New View of the Housing Deficit (Social Science Research Centre, University of Puerto Rico, 1966),
20. reprinted in D. Lewis (ed.), Architects' Year Book XIII (Paul Elek, London, 1970).
21. W.R. Ashby, "Self-Regulation and Requisite Variety", Introduction to Cybernetics, Ch. 11 (Wiley, London, 1956), reprinted in F.E. Emery (ed.), Systems Thinking (Penguin Modern Management Readings, London, 1969).
22. W.R. Ashby, "Self-Regulation and Requisite Variety", Introduction to Cybernetics, Ch. 11 (Wiley, London, 1956), reprinted in F.E. Emery (ed.), Systems Thinking (Penguin Modern Management Readings, London, 1969).
23. Schumacher, (1973), see note 6.
24. In discussion on the outcome of a nation-wide survey of self-help housing in the USA for the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, D.A. Schon put his finger on the key to the central issue: networked organisation. The research team had discovered close social and economic parallels between the US "owner-built" homes and "squatter-built" homes in Peru and other low-income countries. The most relevant conclusions on self-build in the USA is summarised in Grindley (1972), see note 10.
25. M.A. Franks and J.F.C. Turner, "Different Ways of Seeing" and "How to Build Powerful Third Sector Economics", New Economics (Autumn and Winter 1995), the first two of an 8-part series.
26. Packs and further information can be obtained from the Neighbourhood Initiatives Foundation, The Poplars, Lightmoor, Telford TF4 3QN, UK. See also a manual on a complementary methodology appropriate for participatory planning on a larger scale and, therefore, dependent on professionals for the process: N. Wales, Action Planning, How to Use Planning Weekends and Urban Design Action Teams to Improve your Environment (The Prince of Wales's Institute of Architecture, London, 1966).
27. J.F.C. Turner, "Barriers, Channels and Community Control", in D. Cadman and G. Payne (eds), The Living City, Towards a Sustainable Future (Routledge, London, 1990).
28. Newsletter No. 3 of the HIC/Women & Shelter Habitat II Global NGO Program (c/o Rooftops Canada, 2 Berkeley Street, Suite 207, Toronto, Ontario M5A 2W3, Canada).
29. See note 7.
30. e.g. Ruskin, Proudhon, Kropotkin.