simulation of participation: design process of residential...

International Journal of Contemporary Architecture ”The New ARCH“ Vol. 2, No. 2 (2015) ISSN 2198-7688 ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________ D. Dukanac: “Simulation of Participation: Design Process of Residential Architecture”, pp. 51–62 51

DOI: 10.14621/tna.20150306

Simulation of Participation: Design Process of Residential Architecture

Dalia Dukanac

Faculty of Architecture, University of Belgrade

Maglajska 34, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia, [email protected] Abstract The need to develop the variety of sustainable and co-operative solutions necessary for supporting communities has a weak basis in critiques of previous residential community models and practically non-existent participation. Post-socialist structures usually respond by strengthening local government cooperating with globally oriented organizations, but the idea of overcoming the sacred role of central government has usually proven to be an illusion, and centralization of power seems inevitable. Participation is no longer a matter of ideology but of the free market; however local authorities can assume the role of mediator between the specific interests of individuals and the institutional frameworks of investors. Simulation of participation can have an educational role for both sides if it is conducted gradually in a contextually appropriate manner. The case study presented in this paper includes a three-year project between an EU-sponsored program and municipalities in several countries in Central and South-Eastern Europe, including Savski Venac municipality in Belgrade. The research shows efforts to engage the cooperation of all participants in the process of designing residential architecture and community.

1. Introduction The first part of this paper presents an analysis of the relation between participation and simulation in the process of social interaction. The second part is an analysis of previously established models of participation in regard to the production of residential architecture in the territory of Yugoslavia. The third part is an example of application of a participative method based on the case study of the EU-sponsored MILD HOME project ⎯ a research project for planning and designing sustainable housing. Three assumptions follow the three-part structure of the paper. The first two parts are theory research based chapters, but the third part is an action methodology conducted research since the author of this paper is also an author of one of the winning-award projects for competition Eco Green Village based on MILD HOME.

This paper is not an attempt to set new definitions for methodological models in order to simulate participation. It rather argues that the nature of simulation is inherent to participatory methodology, which represents the first assumption. It also investigates the potential of simulation of participation in the contemporary context as an educational method that can generate a cooperative community.

The second assumption is that throughout contemporary history the models of participatory design of residential architecture have proved to be models where users only appear to participate in the decision-making process. However, in the given context, these models suited the specific housing policy and partly solved the problem of housing funds. Today, they can enhance the dynamics of the structural totality of social relations. It is precisely the factor of simulation that encourages users’ initiative and overcomes the acquired inertia that has accumulated during the previous period of heavy reliance on the social system and state subsidies.

Keywords: Simulated participation, Co-operative community, Local initiative, Global standards, Residential design process

Article history: Received: 14 April 2015 Revised: 02 July 2015 Accepted: 20 July 2015



Figure 1. Illustration of one of first–awarded project for Eco green Village Savski venac

The third assumption is that in the contemporary sphere of globalisation and integration, the simulation aspects of methodology are becoming more widespread and more efficient. Through the progress of technology and techniques of representation and communication, elements of the process are becoming available to all participants, and the transparency of their mutual relationships simulates a participatory process. The position is created from which individuals incorporates personal experience in their own space and can affect their own environment. They develop their own personal identity in relation to the community, enabling the community to become more stable, socially sustainable and recognised as a building unit of urban identity (Figure 1).

2. Participation as simulation Before further analysis, it is important to make a distinction between participatory methods and

cooperative community. Participation is a general method of action in processes of social structure, in this case the process of planning and design. Cooperative community is not exclusively defined by institutions, structures and networks. It recognizes itself locally and specifically in relation to its ethnographic and anthropological urban details, and is the most sensitive variable in the equation of cooperation [1].

Participation as a method of inter-social relations represents a mechanism of public and effective expression of opinion. Paradoxically, the interpretation of participation, through the sociological and philosophical discourse, often comes into conflict. The difference is in the direction of action of participation - i.e. whether it is an action that is performed from outside in relation to the structure, or is inherent to the very structure. The first hypothesis of this paper explores the character of simulation of participation with a special focus on its course of action. As there is an attitude that participation is inherent to society, the



assumption is that the simulation is inherent to participation. A brief presentation of the positions of relevant contemporary researchers in order to investigate this hypothesis is necessary for its further interpretation in the context of architectural and urban discourse.

During the fifties and sixties structuralists were investigating methods of participation within social structures as a hierarchical system. Within that system there are two directions in one course of interactions: the vertical. One operates according to the directives coming from the top of the social structure down to individuals, while the other encourages individual participants and interest groups to claim their interests from the authorities. Thus participation is interpreted as a process that comes from outside. Strong institutional frameworks versus the unstable inter-subjective relations of the society in developed capitalism of the welfare state and other social-democratic structures were fertile ground for this kind of interactions. Those were environments with dominant social paradigms and established value systems that originated in the first case from civil society, and in another from political ideology. Due to the centralized structure of these social and state organizations, participation was often a matter merely of norms and regulations; in these cases, participation was only apparent, with no real effect in practice.

During the seventies the idea of structural crisis began to arise. Value systems, such as the system of use-value and exchange value, the products of modernization and urbanization, could cease to be universal and their meanings could be reviewed. The result was a standpoint with only diversity of values, representing no common denominators. The heterogeneity of individual value systems led to the strengthening of particular interests in relation to the collective. With an idea of sustainable society structure the method of dialectics was introduced into social sciences. The structure of society was no longer represented only by the institutional framework and autonomous individuals. It was better understood as a network of different participants, who have the same potential for interaction and the realization of their personal interests in order to achieve collective progress. Structural dialectics, introduced by Pierre Bourdieu, meant the constant conflict of different groups, individuals and institutions that, in the process of achieving personal interests, set common goals [2]. This interpretation of social relations involves participation as inherent to social structure. But the complexity of social relationships and the differentiation of social groups bring these standpoints into question. A more recent stance on the subject of the complexity of social structure, according to the Woolcock's model, is that social networking by participants is performed on three

levels - linking, bridging and bonding [3]. Thus, relations are not anymore achieved in the single vertical course, but also along the horizontal and in their inter-combinations. Woolcock makes a clear distinction in the character of these relations. Within a homogeneous group of participants with horizontal relations, participation is inherent; however, vertical linking is done among heterogeneous groups, and is therefore an operation conducted from outside. In addition, to contextualize these theoretical concepts, empirical research methods were introduced, with researchers such as Lefebvre insisting on qualitative and individual case studies [4]. They considered quantification and analytical methods inadequate for complex structure of modern society. Although Lefebvre contributed dialectic with a third party, as Soja called it trialectic [5], a big complaint about these methodological models was their lack of feasibility. Pragmatists believed that critical theory and empirical studies, though useful in order to understand processes, could not actualize applied models [6]. Thus, in practice, stakeholders in participation often remained purely fictitious, and the decision-making process continued to be conducted from the top of the hierarchically organised institutional structure down.

Some researchers, following critical theory and pragmatism, attempted to define applied models of social interactions. Based on the method of Parsons' AGIL paradigm [7], Habermas developed a theory of communicative action. Following the line of Hartman, Popper and Jarvie, "Habermas examines four influential concepts of social action - teleological, normatively regulated, dramaturgical and communicative action - with an eye to their presuppositions and implications regarding rationality. He argues that only the last of these seeks an understanding and the negotiation of common definitions of situations" [8]. Habermas distinguishes a process that is directed towards achieving the goal and a process which focuses on the mutual understanding of all stakeholders, and which, thereby, synthesizes a cooperative community [9].

1 – The teleological action expands on the strategic model that is focused on achieving the goal and is of anticipatory character.

2 – The normative action, as opposed to the teleological, does not provide for a specific event, but allows the participants to expect certain behaviour. Norms express an agreement obtained in a social group.

3 – he dramaturgical action involves an individual or a group of participants in the interaction who act in relation to the entire system. "The central concept of presentation of self does not signify spontaneous expressive behaviour but stylizing



the expression of one's own experience with a view to the audience" [10].

4 – The communicative action starts from the teleological model and by using interpretive method tries to come to a consensus and mutual understanding of participants.

The four domains of social action are based on Popper's idea of the three worlds - the objective, subjective and objective knowledge – which Jarvie supplemented with an interpretive method in order to contextualize Popper's theoretical concept [11]. The greatest weakness that Habermas recognizes in Jarvie's proposal is that "it permits no distinction between cultural values and institutional embodiment of values and norms" [12] a weakness that prevents the process of mutual understanding. Habermas introduced a referential value system (based on the idea of Popper's “third world” of objective knowledge) into the dialectic method, where common values and goals would be identified both by the structure and the individuals. We are introduced to Habermas' fourth world – the field of active practice of common value systems – which, abstractly speaking, is the field of participation.

However it is necessary to distinguish illusion from simulation of participation, and to place the field of communicative action in the field of simulation. The review of the previous period demonstrated the illusion of participation as a form of practical use of methodological model of participation, and in the case of Habermas' relations between actions this difference can be observed. Habermas distinguishes manipulative processes from strategic processes of society. Strategies may include various social interest groups in achieving collective goals. But if the individual is not aware of the fact that he is a part of the strategic process, and has no insight into that entire process, he becomes a tool of manipulation - and only appears to participate. This makes his decision irrelevant in the context of the whole, and thus the process of participation becomes illusory. However, when an actor has insight into the process, he can perceive the effect of his participation; so even when the actor is not a relevant active factor at any given moment, and does not make decisions, his presence and experience is part of the process, and this makes the process of participation simulated. When we regard the process of communicative action, an additional assumption comes into play: that of a medium that reflects actor-world reactions. "At this level of concept formation the problem of rationality, which until now has arisen only for the social scientists, moves into the perspective of the agent himself. Communicative action introduces achieving understanding as a mechanism for coordinating action" [14]. It can be tentatively represented as a transparent act of dramaturgical action in accordance with the

regulatory actions and goal-oriented teleological action. Only then such social action can be an action of understanding. Having all this in mind, the focus of research has shifted from product to process. Transparency of action is what distinguishes the illusion of process from the simulation of participatory process. "By stressing the fact that the goal-directed actions of different individuals are socially coordinated, Habermas shifts our attention to the broader context of the individual purposive actions, to the structure of social interactions in which teleological actions are located" [15]. Baudrillard also suggests that the mere knowledge or information that we have about the process/ system/event, neutralizes it and turns the system into entropy. "Information in which an event is reflected or broadcast is already a degraded form of this event" [16]. Representation of the process itself is a simulation. However, as Baudrillard points out, the importance is in the transparency of the process. He believes that in the highly differentiated and heterogeneous relations of society, we are no longer able to perceive the wholeness of our environment and its social processes, nor our participation in them. Therefore, the emphasis shifts from consumption of the product to comprehension of the process.

3. Participation in residential architecture In order to understand the need for research of participatory methods, and to detect their character of simulation within residential architecture, it is necessary to present at least briefly the recent history of housing policy within a single territory, politically and socially regulated in different ways.

The participatory model of designing living space represents both methodological and applicative models of housing construction that involve the active participation of different interest groups. A participatory model of designing living space was created to upgrade standardized models during the socialist period in the territory of Yugoslavia. This paper examines the actual degree of participation of individual participants in the design process. During the socialist regime, budgetary investments were focused mainly on increasing the housing funds, i.e. the state primarily invested in the production of housing, which was the dominant consumer sector housing policy. In other words, users were only consumers of housing, while the free market, as a potential cause of class inequalities, did not exist. Of course, all investments were made in the public rental sector, while subventions were not direct (like housing allowances in welfare states), but indirect, in the form of unrealistically low rents. Public sector housing funds were treated as general social housing, because they were fully funded from the budget; the state was supposed to be the main investor, manufacturer and



distributor of apartments [17]. Housing construction was therefore socially oriented, and participants in the process of planning and designing living space had only a fictitious freedom of decision. The totalisation of power by the political elite prevented the development of housing as a component of civil rights, and local authorities operated under the full influence of the state, trying to maintain a balance of capital and labour [18]. Here the participatory method proved to be illusory in the planning and design of residential architecture.

Despite the large budgetary costs that the state suffered, the requisite number of apartments - which steadily increased - remained unattainable, and economic failure was necessarily accompanied by a social failure. Individual initiative existed, but was not articulated, and was ignored by the public mechanisms, so it resulted in illegal construction. Illegal construction, according to Hegedus and Tosics belongs to one of the alternative strategies that are called exit strategies [19]. By developing these micro strategies of "coping" within the official socialist system, social relationships that did not fit into the matrix of the dominant social structure and housing models were also developed. According to Mina Petrovic, this phenomenon was evidence of the heterogeneity of principles of social organization, in contrast to the general assumptions of the collectivist model of socialist society [20]. However, the parallel development of collective and particular production and consumption of housing is visible. Here the pursuit of various courses of action of participatory methods come into conflict – from inside and out. Moreover, it is the current position that the inherited civic inertia is derived from "learned helplessness", that is, citizens' constant reliance on government subsidies. While the awareness of the importance of the collective and common good was diminishing, paradoxically, the desire for personal and inalienable assets grew. The result was the illegal appropriation of land, social assistance, housing allowances and other tangible help without any awareness of wider negative effects on the social and urban community [21]. Independent, individual and illegal construction – typical of marginalised social groups during the socialist period – was spurred by the fact that land intended for individual housing construction was a rarity in Belgrade [22]. In order to self-construct it was therefore necessary for citizens to associate – which is also a presupposition of sustainable cooperative community.

With the change of state and social order, there came changes in housing policy. With the collapse of the socialist regime, a reversal of the previous housing policy occurred. Since this meant a negation of the past institutional system, the socio-economic research of post-socialist countries had no interest in further studies of institutional housing. The new regime sought to

redefine institutions, and in the context of such an unstable and undefined housing policy, "research-based approaches to the study of the institutional legacy in shaping new institutions or individual housing strategies of coping with institutional transformation gained extraordinary importance" [23].

In this period of development, which is still ongoing, housing policies are often aimed at overcoming existing barriers perceived in the legacy of previous policies and planning. The full implementation of successful housing models developed in welfare states was impossible, and as a result they were often implemented partially with a lot of customization. The views of various sociologists were that the new concept of housing policy must be based on the principle of division of responsibilities between the state, market and households. With this in mind, studies researched the institutional and action potential of countries in transition [24]. "The role of government is changing, and from a direct "provider", it should become the creator of conditions in which households become participants in the housing market on the basis of income available "[25]. The new housing policy of post-socialist state accepts the basic principles of the capitalist order, which means participation of many more actors than in the previous period, accompanied by a well-developed financial and institutional framework to support it. The action potential of the population, although present, is currently not considered to be usable. In fact, due to the breaking of collective identity and collectivist strategy, there is an apparent "atomization of social structure and the predominance of individual strategies of survival and/or preservation of the material standard" [26]. The duality of housing policy criteria, which includes the inherited past and assumed models of the welfare state, has caused a "double-standard" treatment of market and customers. It is believed that institutional measures are insufficient for the proper articulation of the action potential, because people often show a reluctance to participate; hence the prime goal is to profile the stakeholder positions of different social groups. Offe points to the impossibility of forming a common identity of individuals in the complex convertibility of goods [27]. He stresses the consequential lack of defined, competent and cooperative collective participants in civil society who could play the role of promoting social/housing policy and its institutions. This results in a "parapolitical matrix of social services (the role of the family, clan, neighbourhood)" [28]. According to this analysis, it is possible to recognize the lack of viable relationships by using the analogy of Habermas' division of social action, i.e. we can recognize a lack of coordination between teleological, normative and dramaturgical action. The lack of communicative action is the reason for this, and the result is deficient transparency of action. Also, one of the most common



side effects of breaking the totalized management model is the "clientelistic way of coordination and negotiation, and the links between political and economic elite are still operating under the domination of command power. [...] The lack of transparency of the decision making process of the political elite channels the influence of private capital through corruptive and not partnership strategies and weakens the trust of all stakeholders in the institutions, and in particular inhibits participatory action of citizens in local governance projects" [29].

As the government was no longer the main investor in housing, financial support had to be raised in different ways. For example, the state still uses enterprises, institutions and offices to participate in financing housing construction. The most widespread subsidies are in the form of mortgage loans, which offer certain benefits to users, but are often insufficient because they address only those citizens who already have a certain level of economic power, while the socially disadvantaged or economically weaker are not considered for loans. In this way, the differences in socio-economic status of citizens are only exacerbated, with no prospect for solving long-term problems of housing policy solely through institutional channels. Consequently civic initiatives occur. In post-socialist countries, the lack of civic activities in claiming the right to housing is frequent. However due to inexperience regarding participation in civic initiatives, as well as a

poorly-defined competent authority in the field of housing, these and other initiatives lose their potential, and have had little notable participation in housing policy. Another possible factor for the reduction of potential is the heterogeneity of the community and spontaneity of their actions. If, from the beginning, organizational power and technical assistance was provided to particular initiatives, illegal construction could probably, at least partly, be prevented. However, the actions of individuals within a group strengthens social capital, which is of importance for the formation of community identity.

As Habermas and Popper introduced a new field of understanding - the reference field - one of the possible solutions to the problem of coordinating action of participants from different backgrounds and interest groups is the introduction of a third party. This third party would work to strengthen ties between the private and public sectors, as well as citizens and organizations, and potentially reduce the occurrence of alternative non-institutional (often illegal) strategies. The main connection would be made with local administrative units, and it would be necessary to strengthen local communities, government and partnerships, as well as recognize their potential at higher levels of state administration (Figure 2). Third parties may be presented by organizations at a higher level than the national authorities. These are found in supranational organizations that are a consequence of globalization,

Figure 2. Who makes decision on public housing?

Central federal government

In coordination with providers

Local government in provinces

In coordination with providers

Austria R E, FS, L

Denmark R, FS E, L

UK R, FS, E, L E, L

France R, FS, L E L

Germany R E, FS, L

Hungary R, E, FS, L

Ireland R, FS E, L E, FS, L

Netherlands R, FS E, FS, L

Sweden R, FS E, FS, L

System for determining rentsR

financial subsidies system determiningFS

New development extent E

new locations for housing development L

Whitehead, C., Scanlon, K. “Social Housing in Europe“, in: Social Housing in Europe, ed. Whitehead, C. and Scanlon, K., London School of Economics and Political Science, London, July 2007.



international co-operation and aspirations for achieving dominant significance for participants outside the administration of state governments. These are mainly non-governmental organizations and movements financed by the unions of different national structures. One of the possible capital investors who might take over the role of government in financing projects is the European Union (EU). However it is necessary to adjust the project so that both sides receive benefits – the EU as well as beneficiaries of the project". It is necessary to articulate urban demands in a way that is beyond the local framework, given that the conditions of life reflected in the local framework result from different levels of decision-making process and flows of resources. In other words, it is necessary to ensure that the operation of local needs takes place in a proper global context and that movements focused on local social problems acquire the ability to simultaneously move from level to level and connect within a network of similar movements around the world" [30].

4. Simulation of participation in residential

architecture

Global tendencies

In this chapter, I will briefly present an example of an established and ongoing partnership with regard to residential architecture. The Belgrade municipality of Savski venac - with partners from Italy, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Greece - took part in the EU-sponsored MILD HOME project (My Modular, Intelligent, Low Cost, Do it yourself, nearly zero energy house for our Eco Green Village) which is implemented in the South East Europe Transnational Cooperation Programme of the European Union. The MILD HOME project aims to prove that it is possible to build environmentally friendly, energy saving settlements in South Eastern Europe, which are still accessible to people interested in building their own home.[31] As we can see, the target is adjusted to trends of the global context. The project started in November 2012, and completion was scheduled for September 2014. Joint research by project partners has resulted in architectural and urban competitions in various municipalities for Eco green villages consisting of MILD HOME housing units designed according to standards of sustainability in construction and exploitation. The competition tasks were announced in February 2014. Eight local architectural competitions were conducted in eight municipalities, including Savski venac, where three feasibility studies were made on the basis of the winning proposals. The intent of the feasibility studies were to research the potential for the municipality to influence potential investors and banks, which would enable citizens to secure favorable loans for the construction of

energy-efficient prefabricated houses. The aim of the project was also to gather creative and innovative proposals and to establish a local supply chain for building MILD HOME units in the South East Europe region. In addition, local governments – as project participants - would raise awareness among citizens, broadly inform the public about the benefits of sustainable houses, and encourage the banking sector into sponsoring construction of Eco Green Villages. Four municipalities (Sofia, Castel Nuovo, Miles and Savski venac), conducted four open calls for concept designs for the construction of the first Eco Green Villages on the basis of MILD HOME principles, and two building sites for their construction were opened. However, after obtaining the concept designs, Savski venac announced open call tenders for a feasibility study. Two pilot-projects of Eco Green Villages were envisaged to be constructed, which never happened. The MILD HOME project was presented to the Covenant of Mayors for further propagation of the idea. A local campaign for promoting the MILD HOME project to citizens and municipal authorities was organized in order to introduce this new type of construction into city building plans. MILD HOME information stands were set up around various municipalities, and a regional workshop for potential customers, participants interested in the construction industry and political representatives was planned.

Contrary to the global context of the project, related to the achievement of the energy efficiency in housing, the resolution of specific problems in economic and social contexts was pursued at the local level (Figure 03). The differentiation of living space and the emphasis of different aspects of sustainability depended mainly on the participants in the process [32]. The special value of the award-winning proposals was recognized in their models of cooperative housing and the introduction of innovative relations between different housing typologies that would economically rationalize the process of housing construction, while at the same time building community identity, cohesion and social capital.The terms of the project required the participation of a licensed expert in the field of materials technology and energy efficiency. This condition committed all entrants to participate in a cooperative process with at least one expert from a non-architectural domain. This extended the range of participants in participatory process of designing and planning of a particular living space. If there had been an open call for the execution of some of the conceptual designs, cooperation with the participant representing financial capital for beginning housing construction would also have occurred. All the winning projects were promoting the participation of future residents of the settlement, so the process would include both citizens and citizens' initiatives in the process too. Starting from



Figure 3. Illustration of one of first-awarded project for Eco green Village Savski venac showing global and local

tendencies (ecological and social sustainability) the EU as a representative of a supranational organization and as a source of financial and conceptual construction, and working trough the Savski venac municipality as local government representatives and experts in various disciplines (architecture, economics,

sociology, technology of materials, energy efficiency, and a creative service class) we arrive at a particular investor with economic capital and citizens who would participate in the operationalization of living space. Such a process would, in theory, represent a participatory process of design, planning and construction of residential environment.

However, because of the inconsistencies and shortcomings of the project – which was inevitable due to inexperience of participants in the process – the methodological model was not realized as applicative. It should be noted, however, that the project was, by its nature, experimental. Petrovic claims that the relatively limited involvement of local communities is the consequences of a "lack of knowledge, but also experiential underestimation and overestimation of expert knowledge" [33]. It is possible to enhance the small impact that local authorities have at the national level by using the influence of supranational actors. European interests in this case acted through local authorities (municipalities), resulting in the implementation of certain global standards in the wider region of South East Europe. As shown previously, however, the participation of actors from the groups of experts was neither realistic or effective. A valid contract was formed, and thus in the bureaucratic domain the project was justified, but participation was reduced to a number of joint meetings with no real participation in the decision-making process. Participation existed only on paper for the purposes of the administrative and financial viability of the project. On the other hand, the same process was conducted differently in different environments, which again can be connected to the involvement of more experienced representatives of administrative bodies, local authorities and those who make the process cooperative within the local community. Transparency within the local community increased the effectiveness of the local stakeholder's participation. Local processes were also influenced by the possibility of participation in global processes and its visibility to global stakeholders. However the decision-making capacity of various actors remained very limited (or even nonexistent) and the centralization of decision-making processes still seems inevitable. The difference is in the form of central government, which shifted from national/state to supranational/global level of free market. Yet what makes the difference between this process and previous participation processes is the specificity of opaqueness versus transparency and an open process of admission. All participants in this process have access to information related to the project, and insight into the bigger picture of the project through various websites [34]; in today's sphere of information and communication technologies it is possible to ensure the transparency of the process. Again, transparency has simulated access to the project



and the possibility of participation, although it was not effective in this case. The local authority acted as a normative-regulated action, while the individual actors represented the domain of dramaturgical action; teleological action was represented by EU-sponsored project organization; And communicative action was enabled by communication between global and local, and simulation of the participatory process at the global level. This simulation of global participation encouraged the actors to engage themselves, on a local level, in a process of comprehension. It is in this act of inclusion, information and comprehension where the process of understanding and recognition of common goals is being performed. The possibility of co-operation between and vertical connection of different actors is thus presented. Various experts initiative, as well as an interdisciplinary approach to research and an integrated design process are being encouraged, which makes this method of simulation of participation an educative method. Instead of residential communities, now we have a cooperative community proposed as a structural unit of collective housing.

Local initiatives

Through the project, presented in this part of the paper, the authors explore the possibility of establishing cooperative community as housing unite (Figure 04). This project, which was awarded with one of three equal prizes at competition for the architectural and urban design for Eco green village Savski venac, proposes the model of communicative action through application

within the architectural and urban discourse. In the previous section I discussed methodological models of communicative action, its origins and application in the process of planning residential environment. The focus of this paragraph is on design process of residential space, which is set temporally and relationally.

At the root of proposed project is the idea of designing relations between two different housing typologies. According to competition task, one of the conditions was designing at least two housing typologies, under the banner of sustainability research of housing settlements as urban entities. The authors of this project have tried to achieve a symbiosis of demands and opportunities of the competition task.

The project includes the participation of the institutional framework, as well as representatives of primer capital, and the participation of future users of apartments in creating their own environment. The project anticipates instantaneous construction of collective housing, with the possibility of flexible adaptation of internal space in relation to the change of its user. Change of the user is enabled, and also conditioned, by the temporary character of collective housing. Apartments in the collective housing provide a temporary accommodation for citizens who are willing to invest the money saved on rents in building their own individual homes (Figure 05). This simultaneously enables the flow of inhabitants through the settlement, which would at best enhance differentiation of the population, and thus,

Figure 4. Illustration of one of first-awarded project for Eco green Village Savski venac



Figure 5. Illustration of one of first-awarded project for Eco green Village Savski Venac showing dialogue between collective and individual housing

strengthening community relations and social and human capital. All this is needed in order to enrich the collective experience necessary to carry out an independent construction of individual homes. Tenants who moved from the building of collective housing in individual housing units remain territorially close to future tenants, which is very important for the process of transferring experience and its incorporation into their own housing environment. In this way, individual identities gradually build community identity. Individual housing units are not finally architecturally modelled because they involve direct impact of future users. The only limitation is the subdivision of the site, which

directs the construction of housing space. All residents of the village are users of public spaces, which also include a ground-floor level of the building of collective housing. The contents of this area are envisioned as the beginning of integration with the surrounding neighbourhoods, but also as a place for strengthening local connections, as they offer extra commercial and recreational programs (Figure 6). On the other hand, this is also a way of repayment of primary investment done by institutional framework. With further construction of individual units it is possible for collective apartments to reallocate their content from residential to commercial, cultural, and recreational.



Figure 6. Illustartion of one of first-awarded project for Eco green Village Savski venac 5. Conclusion The aim of this proposal is certainly an incentive for building cooperative community involving different stakeholders and different value systems. In the process of building and expanding the settlement, particular interests and individual identities would, through communicative practical character, synthesize common goals and recognize common values. The emphasis remains on the process of mutual understanding through the process of designing, planning and construction of housing.

This paper aims to show possibility of cooperative processes in designing and planning residential environment and community. It also argues that simulation is inherent to the process of participation, but proposes a model that would enhance its positive sides. It argues that simulation can be used in educational purposes as a part of decision-making process, opposed to its prior use - manipulation. The main goal of this paper is to investigate levels and directions of knowledge exchange through transnational and local cooperation.

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[11] Ibid. pp. 75–85.

[12] Ibid. pp. 81.

[13] Ibid. pp. 90.

[14] Ibid. pp. 93–94.

[15] McCarthy, T. Translator's Introduction, Habermas, J. The theory of communicative action: Reason and the rationalization of society, Beacon Press, Boston, USA, pp. xv, 1984.

[16] Baudrillard, J. Simulacra and Simulation, The University of Michigan Press, USA, pp. 86, 1994.

[17] Petrović, M. Sociologija stanovanja (Sociology of housing), Beograd: Institut za sociološka istraživanja Filozofdkog fakulteta u Beogradu, Serbia, 2004.

[18] Petrović, M. Transformacija gradova : ka depolitizaciji urbanog pitanja (City transformations: towards depolitization of an urban question), Institut za sociološka istraživanja Filozofskog fakulteta u Beogradu, Serbia, pp. 10, 54, 2009.

[19] Petrović, M. Transformacija gradova : ka depolitizaciji urbanog pitanja (City transformations: towards depolitization of an urban question), Institut za sociološka istraživanja Filozofskog fakulteta u Beogradu, Serbia, 2009,pp. 59; Petrović, M. Sociologija stanovanja (Sociology of housing), Beograd: Institut za sociološka istraživanja Filozofdkog fakulteta u Beogradu, Serbia, pp. 274, 2004.

[20] Petrović, M. Sociologija stanovanja (Sociology of housing), Beograd: Institut za sociološka istraživanja Filozofdkog fakulteta u Beogradu, Serbia, 2004.

[21] Ibid.

[22] Petrović, M. Transformacija gradova : ka depolitizaciji urbanog pitanja (City transformations: towards depolitization of an urban question), Institut za sociološka istraživanja

Filozofskog fakulteta u Beogradu, Serbia, pp. 10, 54, 2009.

[23] Petrović, M. Sociologija stanovanja (Sociology of housing), Beograd: Institut za sociološka istraživanja Filozofdkog fakulteta u Beogradu, Serbia, pp.99. 2004.

[24] Petrović, M. Transformacija gradova : ka depolitizaciji urbanog pitanja (City transformations: towards depolitization of an urban question), Institut za sociološka istraživanja Filozofskog fakulteta u Beogradu, Serbia, pp. 55–56, 2009.

[25] Petrović, M. Sociologija stanovanja (Sociology of housing), Beograd: Institut za sociološka istraživanja Filozofdkog fakulteta u Beogradu, Serbia, pp.101, 2004.

[26] Ibid. Pp. 102.

[27] Petrović, M. Sociologija stanovanja (Sociology of housing), Beograd: Institut za sociološka istraživanja Filozofdkog fakulteta u Beogradu, Serbia, pp. 103, 2004.

[28] Petrović, M. Transformacija gradova : ka depolitizaciji urbanog pitanja (City transformations: towards depolitization of an urban question), Institut za sociološka istraživanja Filozofskog fakulteta u Beogradu, Serbia, pp. 67, 2009.

[29] Ibid. Pp. 64–65.

[30] Ibid. Pp. 204.

[31] Competition task for Eco Green Village in the teritoty of Savski venac municipality consisting of MILD HOME housing units, Serbia, 2014.

[32] How to build an Eo Green Village based on MILD HOME manual, ed. Bedin D. Condotta M. Di Noto F. Horvath T. Herdics, A. Ion N. and Momi S, Regional Union of Veneto's Chambers of Commece, Venice, Italy, 2014.

[33] Petrović, M. Transformacija gradova : ka depolitizaciji urbanog pitanja (City transformations: towards depolitization of an urban question), Institut za sociološka istraživanja Filozofskog fakulteta u Beogradu, Serbia, pp. 89, 2009.

[34] MILD HOME, www.mildhome.eu, SOUTH EAST EUROPE, Transnational Cooperation Programme, www. southeast-europe.net

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