The inclusion of participatory design in the Argentine housing policy

Abstract

 In October 2022, the Self-managed Social Production of the Habitat Bill was presented at the Argentine National Congress. This bill incorporates strategies deployed by social organizations to collectively achieve the right to adequate housing into the country's housing policy. As one of its innovations, this bill seeks to implement a participatory design, although the letter of the law does not clarify its connotations and implications. This article reflects on the meaning of participatory design, its contributions, limitations, and possibilities of application in the new framework that the law opens. To answer these questions, this research combines bibliographic and archival sources with participant observation techniques implemented in previous and current experiences. Even though the origin of the bills associates participatory design with a philosophical discussion about the beauty of social housing, the conclusions of the work highlight the practical value of participatory design as an instance of negotiation between actors. These pragmatic advantages can become political when the architectural project allows building a social consensus toward a desired future, but the success of this process requires adequate planification. This bill constitutes an advance in this matter, as it foresees both the multi-stakeholder approach in interdisciplinary teams and instances of methodological training in a National School of Self-management.