Sustainability and Privilege: A Critique of Social Design Practice

Social design is a popular field in contemporary architecture, but it has been criticized for marginalizing and displacing vulnerable populations. Gabriel Arboleda's book "Sustainability and Privilege" proposes an interdisciplinary approach called ethnoarchitecture to improve this practice by eliminating the casual imposition of architects' ideas on vulnerable populations and foregrounding the peoples' voices, experience, and input.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 286 pages
Publication date: 13 May 2022
Publisher: University of Virginia Press

Social design, the practice of designing for poverty relief, is a prominent field in contemporary architecture. Advocates praise architects' creativity and good intentions, while detractors argue it expresses cultural imperialism. Gabriel Arboleda's book, Sustainability and Privilege, explores the lessons learned from social design's limitations and proposes a way to improve this practice. Arboleda argues that social designs' invocation of sustainability often marginalizes and displaces vulnerable populations through faulty alternative technologies, green gentrification, or untoward economic burdens. He criticizes the way social design has been carried out in impoverished regions, particularly in Africa and Latin America. The book proposes ethnoarchitecture, an interdisciplinary approach that eliminates the casual imposition of architects' ideas on vulnerable populations, prioritizing the voices, experiences, and input of the people in social design practice.

Social design, the practice of designing for poverty relief, is a prominent field in contemporary architecture. Advocates praise architects' creativity and good intentions, while detractors argue it expresses cultural imperialism. Gabriel Arboleda's book, Sustainability and Privilege, explores the lessons learned from social design's limitations and proposes a way to improve this practice. Arboleda argues that social designs' invocation of sustainability often marginalizes and displaces vulnerable populations through faulty alternative technologies, green gentrification, or untoward economic burdens. He criticizes the way social design has been carried out in impoverished regions, particularly in Africa and Latin America. The book proposes ethnoarchitecture, an interdisciplinary approach that eliminates the casual imposition of architects' ideas on vulnerable populations, prioritizing the voices, experiences, and input of the people in social design practice.

Weight: 558g
Dimension: 179 x 229 x 20 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780813947495