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ORGANISING COMMUNITIES FOR INTERDEPENDENT GROWTH

Recognising interdependence provides unique opportunities for small businesses to grow and communities to fl ourish. Enrique Martin-Moreno urges architects, as they are presented with opportunities in Latin America, to participate in the building of social projects to understand the potency of trust and shared self-reliance.

Enrique Martin-Moreno

Imagine the world without trust? It does not even seem human; we would not be able to carry out the simplest tasks if they required someone else. How have we evolved and generated so much value in the world collectively? Other species cannot even be around unfamiliar members of the same species without an outbreak of violence. We have certainly come a long way from that reality. Yet, picture a group of owners of small restaurants from the same district of a large Latin American city. Invited by an NGO, they get together to plan a joint strategy for the improvement of their individual businesses. They understand economies of scale, but fail to implement the most basic plan for buying their supplies in bulk, bypassing several intermediaries that could result in great savings for all, due to a lack of trust among them. Or imagine a large mining consortium having to build and operate its own rail lines to ensure its minerals reach the market. This particular rail system will not grow beyond the specifi c needs of the mining company, and the region will not fully profi t from this enormous investment, but the corporation feels it cannot trust anyone else to reliably transport its goods.

Trust is built through relationships of fair exchange. It has allowed for the division of labour, specialisation and the constant increase in our standards of living. Fair and honest exchange teaches us to recognise that enlightened self-interest lies in seeking cooperation. It helps us to develop a culture of fairness and respect for individuals that helps us to develop that uniquely human attribute of being able to deal with strangers, even our enemies, in a civil fashion.1

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Latin America is indeed the land of opportunities, some of which lie in its social structure. In analysing the public (government and bureaucracies) and private (corporations, business enterprises, a market culture) sectors of society, we fi nd that there is also a robust and cohesive social sector (people, when they are acting as citizens and not as part of the other sectors). As governments and private developers struggled to cope with the demands of rural to urban migrations and of the demographic explosion of the 20th century, the social sector organised and began to fi ll the voids, creating strategies and emergent systems of urbanity. But we have not developed the proper instruments (legal and fi nancial) to help unleash the social sector’s entrepreneurial potential and to create fl uid, upper-social and economic mobility.2

Corruption, unsuccessful public policies and government bureaucracies have diminished the power of the state and left governments disenfranchised; and in recent decades this void in the power structure has often been fi lled by organised crime cartels that in some countries occupy and control entire territories, challenge the hegemony of the state and render the countries in a state of war. Organised crime extorts money from the rich and lures labour from the poor,3 contributing to a culture of fear, dehumanisation and lack of trust that results in a more dangerous polarisation of society, in which violence almost inevitably grows. The result in most cases is a divided city, fragmented well beyond the binary divisions of rich and poor, formal and informal. A polarising ‘us versus them’ mentality divides

Rodrigo Alcocer, María Alós, Gustavo Artigas, Torolab/Raúl Cárdenas, Teddy Cruz, Minerva Cuevas, Iván Hernández, Jonathan Hernández, Homeless, Moris, Tercerunquinto, Wakal, and Taro Zorrilla, Vacíos Urbanos, Lisbon Architecture Triennale, 2007above: The Mexican contribution to the Lisbon Architecture Triennale consisted of diverse urban tactics distributed throughout Lisbon – tactics that do not make a unit, but remain interconnected. It is in the so-called ‘urban voids’ where incidentally unrelated parts of the city coexist in a never-ending interplay of differences.

Alberto Kalach, FARO de Oriente, Mexico City, 2000opposite: The Fábrica de Artes y Ofi cios + de Oriente (Arts and Trades Factory of the East) urban development project began by rescuing an abandoned government building and transforming it into a new public focal point with cultural production as its priority. Conceived by Alejandro Aura, the FARO de Oriente opened its doors in June 2000 in an area with the highest crime rate and the lowest level of infrastructure and urban development in Mexico City. It developed into a workshop for artistic creativity that also offers cultural events such as concerts and multimedia performances.

It helps us to develop a culture of fairness and respect for individuals that helps us to develop that uniquely human attribute of being able to deal with strangers, even our enemies, in a civil fashion.

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society into all sorts of petty groups based on religion, race, ancestry, socioeconomic level, class, political views, gender, sexual preferences or even something as simple as soccer-team affi liation. Dehumanisation occurs when one stops seeing ‘the other’ as human.4 The result is a self-destructive, fear-based society. This is our struggle.

In examining which sector has the most power, we would fi nd that almost across the board the private sector and the market have the most ability to act, and the capacity to direct or infl uence the behaviour of others or the course of events. National and multinational corporations (legal or illegal) push governments around, and certainly have more power than people. In turn, the public sector has more power over the social sector. Their powers are dependent on the very fragmentation of society. The problem is not the very few at the very top or the very bottom of the ethical/moral scale, but a mass of atomised, terrifi ed individuals who are easily manipulated and pushed around. Through consumption or taxes, every dollar we spend gives a vote for that business or government to exist. The power, then, is ours, if we choose to seize it.

After eight years of trial and error through academic projects,5 private practice and involvement in the Inlak’ech movement in Mexico, where communities are being organised to reduce fear and violence through participation, expression and community work,6 it has become apparent that the greatest adversaries we face are our fear, entitlement and lack of trust. They represent the most limiting conditions to our continuous growth and to greater complexity and the

Ines Linke and Louise Ganz, Empty Lots Occupation Project, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil, 2006above: In this experimental occupation project, vacant sites were used as provisional public spaces with cows, swimming pools, living rooms, fl owering fi elds for picnics and spaces to rest and read. The use of vacant lots makes it possible to produce, and live in, a sphere other than speculation, fear or segregation.

Giacomo Castagnola/Germen estudio, Banca Ambulante, Tijuana, 2006opposite top: Felipe Zuñiga from Consultorio de Cultura Pública describes Banca Ambulante as a project that arises from a simple and genuine inquiry: the possibility of ‘being’ in a place – ‘being’ as opposed to ‘occupying’ a space or making it one’s own. It suggests a brief stay, an experiential occupation of space, and responds to a seemingly simple gesture, that of hospitality.

Raúl Cárdenas/Torolab, Coma, Puebla, Mexico, 2006–7opposite bottom: Coma culminated in creating a new food product, a type of bread containing all the nutrients absent in a typical Mexican diet. For the project, Torolab collaborated with local gastronomy students, musicians and artists, creating a system of distribution with the design of a transformable vehicle that is basically a moving oven.

Community is an emergent property of the system. It requires participation and empathy. It has to be carefully planted in each of us and diligently cared for in order to grow.

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production of value. There is a tension between the objective world as it is and the subjective world as it should be7 that by defi nition is unreal. Yet, we seem determined for the world to be as we want it to be.

Through phrases like ‘the government should take care of that’, or ‘it is not our job to …’, we make ourselves victims and continuously fi nd someone to blame to evade our responsibility for our own participation in the system. We might agree that the particular genius of the city is its ability to provide high standards of living through public facilities and public spaces. However, a city whose citizens are afraid of each other will not be able to strive towards that common good. We need to recognise that things do not operate linearly in neat binary choices in order to begin to see our participation in, and effect on, the system. Building community – humanising ourselves – is the fi rst step towards interdependent growth and the full potential of our society. Community is an emergent property of the system. It requires participation and empathy. It has to be carefully planted in each of us and diligently cared for in order to grow. It is futile to try to achieve it by imposing a centralised, static, top-down path.

The projects illustrated here demonstrate innovative ways of involving the various players (the public, private and social sectors) and redefi ning their roles and levels of inclusion. To evaluate urban interventions at any scale it is important to assess factors such as their sustainability (environmental, social and economic) – for example, whether they are self-sustaining or dependent on external endowments in

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A refurbished factory complex that houses theatres, gymnasiums, a swimming pool, library, leisure areas, restaurants, galleries, workshops and other services, it offers sports, cultural, health and environment education programmes, as well as special programmes for children and senior citizens.

Lina Bo Bardi, SESC Pompéia, São Paulo, 1986right: The SESC Pompéia proves that a social enterprise can be economically sustainable through excellent facilities and content.

Pedro Reyes, Leverage, 2006opposite: In this variation on a see-saw there is a clear asymmetric relationship; one person equals in power a group of nine others. However, the single player needs the group to wield his or her infl uence. At fi rst this seems a materialisation of the hierarchies and power inequities found in almost all human organisations.

The ‘oppressor’ against the ‘oppressed’. Another interpretation could shift problems into opportunities – a potential ‘social leverage’, or the power of an individual to transform his or her group. If you change your own habits you are multiplying your efforts by one. If you manage to introduce a change within a group, the effect is multiplied by 10, by 100, by 1,000.

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the long run – and their understanding of local culture. Also important is their agency (top-down or bottom-up, centrally planned versus organisational or community-based), the degree of participation of the community and resulting ownership of the project by the respective communities, as well as replicability and scalability potential, and sense of entrepreneurship. Do these projects generate value and exchange for it? This way we can measure how successful they are in creating a new balance in society.

Lina Bo Bardi’s large-scale intervention, the SESC Pompéia community, cultural and sports centre (1977–86) in São Paulo, is a good example of a private institution created by a non-profi t organisation formed by the city’s business owners. A refurbished factory complex that houses theatres, gymnasiums, a swimming pool, library, leisure areas, restaurants, galleries, workshops and other services, it offers sports, cultural, health and environment education programmes, as well as special programmes for children and senior citizens. There are now more than 30 SESC centres in the state of São Paulo, and each is responsible, through user fees, for its own management and upkeep, though the unique political and economic conditions at the time of the founding of the SESC render it almost impossible to replicate today.

However, current conditions in Latin America also present great opportunities for the development of new tools for architects and artists to participate in the building and organising of communities while designing the built environment. Recent projects have included microscale interventions of a bottom-up nature – from

the temporary transformation of private property into public spaces, to an adaptation of a children’s playground attraction that reveals the leverage we have as individuals. Here, the architects (or their collectives) become the leaders, enrolling the people, local governments and institutions to create stronger communities.

There is an old Chinese proverb: ‘If we continue the way we are going, we might get where we are headed.’ As Latin America celebrates the bicentennial of the beginning of its quest for independence, it is presented with a true opportunity for transformation: to own its struggle and to grow from it, to become the fi rst true civilisation of the world – civilised by its people and not its governments. But this change has to begin with each and every one of us. 1

Notes1. Matt Ridley, The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves, HarperCollins (New York), 2010.2. Hernando de Soto, The Other Path: The Invisible Revolution in the Third World, HarperCollins (New York), 1989, and The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else, Basic Books (New York), 2000.3. Keith Raniere, Oportunidades de Negocio, Conocimiento, Coordinación de Ciencia y Tecnología de Nuevo León (Monterrey), No 108, September 2010, p 85.4. Alain Finkielkraut, In the Name of Humanity: Refl ections on the Twentieth Century, Columbia University Press (New York), 2000. 5. Enrique Martin-Moreno, ‘It Takes Three: The “People,” Businessmen, and Government Offi cials’, Harvard Design Magazine, No 28, Spring/Summer 2008, p 41.6. See www.inlakech.org.mx.7. Michael Gecan, Going Public: An Organizer’s Guide to Citizen Action, Anchor Books (New York), 2004.

Text © 2011 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Images: p 128 images by Alejandra Carlock and Arturo Alanis; p 129 © Image by Mariana Musi; p 130 © Louise Marie Cardoso Ganz; p 131(t) © Giacomo Castagnola; p 131(b) © Raúl Cárdenas Osuna; p 132 © SESC Sao Paulo, photo Nilton Silva; p 133 © Courtesy of Yvon Lambert Gallery