The Publicness of

Architecture;

Radical
Democracy
in Urban Space

Diploma 17

Gabu Heindl,
Eleanor Dodman
with Liza Fior as critical friend
1
25,000 land owners (far less than 1% of
population) own half of England.
Guy Shrubsole, Guy, Who Owns England? How We Lost Our Green and Pleasant Land, and How to Take It Back. London: William Collins, 2019

Land ownership accounts for over

half of the total UK net worth.
Christophers Brett, The NEw Enclosure, The Appropriaton of Public Land in Newoliberal Britain, Verso, 2018

Since 2000 the amount of homes

owned by London Councils has fallen
by 150,000 homes.
https://england.shelter.org.uk/professional_resources/housing_databank

2 3
London is our site and Public-Private Partnerships are our
leap-off point. This short acronym, PPP, has become iconic
in the designation of neoliberal urban planning initiatives
and the financialization of housing and public space. In
Public-Private Partnerships, the public is increasingly and
undemocratically interpreted as governmental institutions
that delegate the responsibility of planning and design to
private actors – those bolstering the generation and power of
capital and embedding inequality.

What is the architects’ role in all this?

The unit will give you the tools, support and
provocations to work with the current state of
neoliberal London and mess around with it.
Diploma 17 will work within the purview of ‘radical
democracy’, a term borrowed from political theory. Radical
democracy sets out to re-democratise democracy itself
Introduction

in this moment of collective crisis. Through this lens,

planning will be read as a ‘setting-in-dispute’ that hinges
upon alliances between architecture and the popular agency
of social movements and bottom-up initiatives that work
to ameliorate democratic participation, climate justice,

Eleanor Dodman
accessibility to public space and affordable housing provision.

Bunhill Estate
We will conceive of architectural agency as ‘acting in public’,
designing public infrastructures and supporting the commons.

4 5
First: Most urgent tasks – “burning questions”. Our Third: Create forms in the face of their
research focuses on and maps urban sites in which public impossibility – “nonsolutions”. The results are test-
infrastructures are taken over by private enterprise, e.g. cases of the agency of architecture, situated between
in housing, public space, schools, (climate) care. We will methods of activism, unlearning some disciplinary habits
exploit architectural representation and gain a critical and radical expert engagement. The projects employ
understanding of the city they live in, its processes of architectural tools and skills, deeply grounded in the
gentrification, financialization, uneven development, and expertise of architecture, and at the same time may be
the involvement of architecture therein. As a parallel nonsolutions: acting on the urgency of the situation, yet
map the unit encourages students to read London as a not denying the dilemmatic position we are positioned in.
site for critical architectural agency, in alliance with the Such a nonsolution is nothing less than a well-crafted and
popular agency of social/climate movements and bottom- represented architectural or planning proposal, precise
up initiatives. and implementable, while keeping visible contradictions
as well as contact zones for the agency of others.

Second: Architectural agency in the political

field – “just architecture”. Through this enquiry we will
aim for in-depth-understanding of planning conditions,
such as ground ownership/politics, the housing question,
history and critique of democratic planning, Section 106
Studio Aims

legal agreements. This research will aid us in mapping

the dilemma of the limited range of architectural agency
within the political field – yet at the same time reveal
ever more options for architectural agency.

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Term 1: most urgent tasks -
“burning questions”

“But if we apply to the present the lessons of the past, we realize In term 1 the students will be introduced to
that the reap­pearance of witch-hunting in so many parts of topics including neoliberal city development, the
the world in the ‘80s and ‘90s is a clear sign of a process of financialisation of public space and housing as a public

Monday, 23rd September to Friday, 13th December 2019

”primitive accumulation,” which means that the privatization task, the political concept of radical democracy and
of land and other communal resources, mass impoverishment, postfoundational thought, militant design, activist
plunder, and the sowing of divi­sions in once-cohesive demands, a.o.
communities are again on the world agenda.”
The first tasks will use different research means and
Silvia Federici, Caliban and the Witch: Women, the Body and Primitive Accumulation, methods to analyse the topic: papers, documentaries,
NY: Autonomedia, 2004, p.239. films, activists, etc.

1.1 Collective film evening with documentaries on

ground politics, housing crisis, etc.

1.2 Walks through London, on-site investigations:

Initial site investigations will take the form of a series of
collective walks through London. The first one will take
us right through the neighbourhood of the AA. We will
visit Poplar council housing estates, the Golden Lane
Estate and Heron Tower as well as investigate POPS
(privately owned public spaces) on site, e.g. around City
12 weeks

Hall.

8 9
1.3 Students, in small groups, will chose a site of The layers of this map or physical model of London
consist of:
of public interest to visit and confront their burning
questions, survey them by means of photography, video,
– “burning questions”: facts and figures of London’s
interviews, deep research on the economic, political and
public space and public tasks.
social conditions of the site.
A collection of public site protocols will become part of
– “urgent sites”: specific urban sites in which public
the collective research output.
infrastructures have been taken over by private
enterprise, by processes of gentrification and
1.4 Research of popular agency: current and historic financialization. Specifically, we will be looking into the
implications for public space and the housing crisis, as
forms of activism, NGOs, guerilla movements climate
well as the agents of such development.
justice, public space and housing activists, etc.
– “possible alliances”: If with architecture we want to
1.5 Result: make a difference, we need to enter into alliances, hence
the third layer is a mapping of counter-agents: NGOs,
The final result of this term will be the collective
activists, militant initiatives and bottom-up movements.

https://occupylondon.org.uk/occupy-two-years-on/
fabrication of a map or physical model of London as a
site for critical architectural agency. It will be created
The result will be presented as a publicly accessible
through detailed analysis of material focused on the
document or map, allowing its agency to extend beyond
neoliberal situation of London’s urban space, its agents
the unit itself.
and counter-agents.

Occupy Demonstration
10 11
Term 2: Architectural agency in
the political field –
“just architecture”

“Social space is produced and structured by conflicts. Term 2 is dedicated to developing an individual design
With this recognition, a democratic spatial politics begins.” brief based on the knowledge production from term 1.
It focuses on the questions: What can architects do under
Rosalyn Deutsche: Evictions. Art and Spatial Politics. Cambridge, Mass-London: MIT current circumstances? How can they support radical
Press 1996, p. xxiv demands for change, while also supporting everyday
spatial needs?

Monday, 6th January to Friday, 20th March 2020

2.1. Assignments of Term 2:
Students will focus their research on a specific topic and
site within London. This site will act as a case study
through which to critically assess the interrelation of
ownership, the financialization of urban space, and
architecture’s role within such developments.

Research of this specific case study will include analysis

of its evolution, its economy and politics, its (top-down,
and bottom-up) agents and its potential for architectural
agency.

With the end of this term students will have elaborated

Jess Hurd/reportdigital.co.uk
a thesis and design brief that relates radical democracy
11 weeks

to the site investigated, its historical development, its

Protest by Focus E15

currently urgent problems.

12 13
 Legend Partitur "Infrastructure"
Intervention Areas
Ramp ca. 1500 m
Enabling Space
Commercial Area
2nd District
Recreational
106 18 202 24 130 27 23 87 43 102 21 29 80 63 39 Non - Commercial Area

Leaseholds (Short-Term)
G * Leased Premises Gastronomy

Aspernbrückengasse
M * Leased Premises Market Use

Lilienbrunngasse
Obere Donaustraße Sofitel Vienna Uniqa
L * Leased Landing Place /

Hollandstraße

Taborstraße
Floating Object

Access to Danube Canal

ße
ra
rst
IF Lift

ate
Pr
Stairs
Adria Wien City Beach Agora

G* G* * Ramp

Schwedenbrücke
Infrastructure

Aspernbrücke
Salztorbrücke

Marienbrücke
Subway
Donaukanal Donaukanal Donaukanal
Existing
L* L* L* L* Demolition / Removal
M* M* M* M* L* G* Renovation
Fischerstiege Twin City Liner Motto am Fluss DDSG landing stage Badeschiff Urania Herrmann New / Suggestion
IF Strandbar
New / Evaluation

Rotenturmstraße
Uraniastraße Radetzkybrücke Dampfschiffstraße

Laurenzerberg
WC Public

Salztorgasse

Schallautzerstraße
Stubenring
wc WC Private

Wienfluss
WC Public / Suggestion
Morzinplatz Schwedenplatz BIG
U1,U4 Station Hydrant

Drinking Fountain
Ring Stadtpark Trash Bin

Planning Measures
18 33 113 94 24 171 27 25 97 161 29 126 31
Canal Crossings

Improvement of Accessibility
1st District Overcoming of Levels
Ramp ca. 850m Ramp - 400 m
Access to Urban Area
PF Follies / Suggestion

2.2 Technical studies will form an integral role within 2.4 Study trip to Vienna and Bratislava
the unit with much of term two being devoted to the February 3rd - February 7th, 2020
production of your technical studies documentation.
This document will serve to compliment your project and In Vienna students will gain knowledge and
by extension its thesis. understanding of the social housing system of Vienna
and its history of Red Vienna. Also, its ground politics
including a recent building code amendment, capping
2.3 Unit lecture series / dates to be announced: the price of urban land for social housing, the most

Gabu Heindl, Susan Kraupp: Non-Builing plan “Donaukanal Partitur”, Vienna 2014
Workshop lecture #1: with political actors on the crisis of recent new urban developments, cooperative housing
publicness in London initiatives and public space politics will be in the focus of
Workshop lecture #2: with NGO speaker on current discussions and seminars.
battles and movements
Workshop lecture #3: on postfoundational theory and Bratislava, the twin city of Vienna, and less than 1
the concept of nonsolution hour train ride away will serve as a comparison due to
Workshop lecture #4: on radical democracy similarities (Habsburg Empire until 1918) and massive
Workshop lecture #5: on solidarity and emancipatory differences (Cold War divide) in their historic context and
politics hence differing understandings of public and collective
space.

14 15
Term 3: Create forms in the face
of their impossibility –
“nonsolutions”

“In the end everything in politics turns on the distribution

of spaces. What are these places? How do they function?
3.1 Assignments of Term 3:
Why are they there? Who can occupy them? For me,
In Term 3 every student will work out a powerful
political action always acts upon the social as the litigious
architectural or urban strategy project for a piece of
distribution of places and roles. It is always a matter of
public infrastructure or a structure supporting the
knowing who is qualified to say what a particular place is
publicness of architecture. As a radical demand the
and what is done to it.”
project may also question the conditions of the context

Monday, 22nd April to Friday, 19th June 2020

and find/enter into alliances by means of activism and
Jacques Rancière, Politics and Aesthetics. An Interview, in: Angelaki: Journal of the
radical engagement.
Theoretical Humanities 8:2, 2003, 191-211: 201.
The efinement of a body of material – architectural
drawings, visual renderings, models – to express
the architectural proposal, which is precise and
implementable: It responds to the immediate urgency
of a given issue, but does not deny its inherent
contradictions. (It is this intentional exposure of
conflictual constellations within a form for which
“nonsolution” is an adequate term.)
9 weeks

Image by muf
16 17
3.2 Outcomes:
Acute understanding of London’s processes of
gentrification and financialization.

In-depth-understanding of planning conditions, land

ownership rights, democratic development policies, and
Section 106 agreements, in order to identify the obstacles
and openings for architectural agency, within the
political field.

Knowledge and understanding of the distinct features

and history of concepts such as the public, the private,
and the commons.

Ability to comprehend the political, social, and economic

dynamics of a chosen specific site.

Critical reflection on architectural agency, popular

agency, and that of public institutions.

Use the tools you have gathered as an undergraduate to

both develop your own “voice”and make yourself useful.

Ability to formulate and sustain an independent

argument of critical nature throughout the length of the
project.

Ability to design an architectural or planning project of

highest disciplinary qualities, employing architectural
tools, means and elements, while reflecting critically on
the larger implications.

muf ruskin square example of POPS croydon

Drafting of a complete and well-crafted set of drawings
that touch on all the relevant scales and articulate fully
the student`s position and project.
Outcomes

Ultimately, the work of Diploma 17 will serve as

a testbed for the agency of architecture in the
contemporary social and urban condition.

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Gabu Heindl is an architect, urbanist and
activist; her Vienna based practice GABU Heindl
Architektur focuses on public space, collective housing,
urban justice. Gabu holds a Postgraduate Master in
Architecture and Urbanism from Princeton University
(as Fulbright Scholar) and wrote her Doctor of
Philosophy on radical democracy in architecture and
urban planning at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna.
Since 2018 Visiting Professor at Sheffield University.
Gabu will share her knowledge of strategies for cities,
such as the history of utopian Red Vienna and its
possible futures, her research on radical democracy and
experience on relating political philosophy to activist
practices of architecture and urbanism.

Eleanor Dodman is a graduate of the AA

and a practicing architect. She has taught at the AA,
Birmingham City University and Cardiff University.
Her London based practice focuses on residential and
cultural projects. Eleanor will share her knowledge on the
relationship between architecture, representation and the
power of the image.

Liza Fior will be a regular guest, to bring her

experience (and networks) of how the cookie (London)
crumbles. Liza is founding partner of muf architecture/

Drawing by Eleanor Dodman

art, only UK winners of the European Prize for Public
Space and is currently working on multiple “would
be public” projects in London, negotiating all that is
Team

necessary to make them so.

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University of Chicago Press, 2013 Urbanism and its Contestations: Crossing Theoretical
Boundaries. New York: Basingstoke.
Blau, Eve. 1999. The Architecture of Red Vienna 1919-
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Eds.). 1996. Writings on cities. Vol. 63. Oxford: Blackwell.
De Carlo, Giancarlo. 2005. „Architecture’s public.“ In:
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Architecture and participation, p. 3-18, New York: Spon Democracy, Edinburgh University Press.
Press
Martin, Reinhold, 2014. „Fundamental #13. Real Estate
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the Body and Primitive Accumulation, New York:
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alternative? John Hunt Publishing. Robnik, Drehli. 2014. „Reading/reclaiming/recovering
Siegfried Kracauer´s film thinking of nonsolutions within
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of spatial rights to a prison court(yard).“ In: Doina Our Green and Pleasant Land, and How to Take It Back.
Petrescu, Kim Trogal (Eds.). Social (Re)Production of London: William Collins.
Architecture, London, New York: Routledge.
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Reading List

Jeini, Ana, Anselm Wagner (Eds.). 2013. Is there (anti-)

neoliberal architecture? Berlin: Jovis Verlag.

Knight, David. Williams, Finn. 2012. „SUB-PLAN: A

guide to permitted development”, Architectural Research
Quarterly 16(03) (2012): 269-272.

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