Umeå universitets logga

The thesis sets out to investigate how architectural practice can become better equipped to respond to the needs of marginalized communities in Malmö. The depraved condition of these communities has been expanded upon in terms of neoliberalism, discourse, identity, and segregation - by using literature review and critical analysis as methods. While remaining on the topic of injustice, marginality as a site of resistance has been proposed in the face of mechanisms that disempower these communities; and the role and praxis of the architect has been brought into question. Mutual knowledge production has been discussed as a way to work towards spatial agency, a sentiment that resonates well with an ambition to listen to, learn from, and involve voices from ortenrörelsen as well as Malmö’s marginalized communities - people who have been formulated as citizen experts within this thesis. Conscientization has been examined as a way to see one’s condition clearly, and Freire’s (2014) claim to reposition the teacher as facilitator has been attempted to be translated into a repositioning of the architect as facilitator rather than authority. By looking at Goodman et al. (2004), a way to facilitate this repositioning has been indicated. The thesis concludes that architectural practice could become better equipped to respond to the needs of marginalized communities by attempting to harness citizen expertise by means of (a) an awareness of structures that perpetuate marginality, (b) mutual knowledge production, and (c) an understanding of how their role as authority may put them in a position where they are unable to access the appropriate knowledge.