Let’s change pace for a moment.
So much talk of governance, of building client capacity, and of redesigning the preconditions for success raises some questions: What influence do we have as urban practitioners? Who currently gets to be at the decision-making table? Who is missing? What agendas do we bring?
Just like clients, design practices bring a plethora of overlapping agendas to a project. On urban projects, with their large and diverse design teams, these agendas are likely to be multifarious and amplified. This expansion of the voices engaged in the design process is an opportunity to significantly enrich practice and projects.
We called upon a handful of designers who demonstrate a high level of influence in the agendas of urban projects – who find themselves at the table as client, agitator, consultant, advocate, researcher or critic – for their take on what agency means in the context of their practice.
— Andy Fergus and Felicity Stewart, dossier guest-editors
Pluralism, collaboration and influence
Urban design defies definition, but a simple
