The Ongoing Dilemma of Professionalism

While architecture and design can be considered to fall under the umbrella of the arts, key differences make architectural practice distinct from arts based community engagement, and in some ways problematic. This paper focuses on traditions of professional organization and oversight that both raise expectations for civic responsibility and simultaneously present institutional challenges to deeper engagement. While most concepts of professionalism pay lip service to the public good, I will argue for the importance of maintaining and expanding the values of community engagement that wax and wane in architecture and design education. I will characterize an approach of Design Engagement as contrasted with Design Assistance and offer some principles that might foster more truly collaborative and publicly-engaged design practices.

https://doi.org/10.35483/ACSA.AM.106.12

Volume Editors
Amir Ameri & Rebecca O'Neal Dagg

ISBN
978-1-944214-15-9