Bakhtinian dialogism as framework for participant architectural research

Abstract

This paper examines a framework for participant architectural research inspired by Bakhtinian dialogism. It does so by testing this approach on a current study of the recently completed Barking Town Square in Barking, England, in the context of urban regeneration in a London suburb struggling with issues of identity. A dialogic framework is derived from two principles of dialogism: entities are described by relations of parts rather than homogeneous wholes; and identities constantly change with respect to the uniqueness of a situation. For the architectural project, this means that participants and objects are defined by their relation with others in the project and that their identity changes over time as these relations evolve. It also means understanding architecture as a complex social process rather than a "thing in itself ”. Finally, the approach assumes the presence of an embodied subject and identifies the researcher as a participant in the architectural process. Participant architectural research therefore implies that research consciously engages in the continuing and dialogic process of giving meaning to a place. Empirical data has been collected using socio-anthropological fieldwork methods of interviewing and participant-observation for the last year and a half. This approach, more attuned to the analysis of social and cultural relations and the "Other”, complements the necessary engagement implied by a dialogic framework.