Abstract
In response to escalating socio-environmental challenges, transformative approaches in architectural design are crucial for facilitating urban transitions. Conventional adaptation strategies, prioritising density and digital integration, often fail to address the multifaceted crises facing modern urban contexts. Participatory architecture offers a shift towards socially engaged practices, fostering innovation and sustainable adaptation by creating spaces of disruption. This study evaluates projects in Colombia, Spain, Senegal, and the UK using our tailored/expanded deep adaptation framework through four components— resilience, relinquishment, restoration, and reconciliation. Our findings reveal that participatory architecture can enable communities to transform vulnerabilities into actionable interventions for sustainable development and transitions. By fostering dialogue and collaboration, the framework acts as a mediator of socio-environmental transformations, promoting equitable urban planning, climate resilience, and empowerment. This paper underscores participatory architecture's pivotal role in reconfiguring human-ecological relationships and highlights its potential to address complex challenges in diverse global contexts.
Keywords
Participatory architecture, urban transitions; climate adaptation; co-design
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.2342
Citation
Calvo, M., and Fabregat-Nodar, C. (2026) The role of participatory architecture in urban transition, in Simeone, L., Gray, C. M., Verhoeven, A., de Götzen, A., Bakırlıoğlu, Y., Zohar, H., Stead, M., and Buwert, P. (eds.), DRS2026: Edinburgh, 8–12 June, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.2342
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Included in
The role of participatory architecture in urban transition
In response to escalating socio-environmental challenges, transformative approaches in architectural design are crucial for facilitating urban transitions. Conventional adaptation strategies, prioritising density and digital integration, often fail to address the multifaceted crises facing modern urban contexts. Participatory architecture offers a shift towards socially engaged practices, fostering innovation and sustainable adaptation by creating spaces of disruption. This study evaluates projects in Colombia, Spain, Senegal, and the UK using our tailored/expanded deep adaptation framework through four components— resilience, relinquishment, restoration, and reconciliation. Our findings reveal that participatory architecture can enable communities to transform vulnerabilities into actionable interventions for sustainable development and transitions. By fostering dialogue and collaboration, the framework acts as a mediator of socio-environmental transformations, promoting equitable urban planning, climate resilience, and empowerment. This paper underscores participatory architecture's pivotal role in reconfiguring human-ecological relationships and highlights its potential to address complex challenges in diverse global contexts.