(IM) Posibilidades de la vivienda participativa: retornando al sistema Flexibo

The purpose of this paper is to discuss what contemporary architecture can learn from historical experience of participatory architecture. Based on the theory of social construction of technology (SCOT), this paper analyses the tradition of participatory architecture from the 1960s and 1970s. It identifies the problems faced by participatory architecture, and how participatory architecture turned out to be marginal to mainstream architecture. This paper focuses on the exemplary case of Flexibo, a housing system of support and infill developed in Denmark in the 1970s. Certain socio-historical conditions in the Nordic countries presented an optimal breeding ground for housing democracy, and in these countries the influence of participatory architecture, though modest, is still broad. Nevertheless, the study reveals the main limitation of this participatory architecture as it emerged: most of the efforts towards democratisation of everyday life by architecture came unaccompanied by parallel efforts towards democratisation of the everyday of architectural processes and practices. Finally, this paper points out some alternative ways to overcome the previous missteps for those today who are still interested in the old goal of a transforming participatory architecture.