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[ research ] → [ participatory design ]

[ participatory design  ]

Stephanie Johnston is currently involved in a major new project working up a full spec model of Article 25 methods and practice in participation. Her expertise will bring together our experience which started with our first project. Participation as a theme has run through every one of our projects. The team in Kabul for example, including Tamara Hall of Aedas, were instrumental in including the community on the work of the partner NGO in consultations. Other projects making new strides included, in 2007, Article 25's work in Romania. Julia Brunning lead and organised a team of twelve  (with the help of a RIBA/ICE McAslan Bursary) who traveled to Romania and set out to show the role of community participation in improving conservation practices in the work of Romanian NGO, The Mihai Eminescu Trust. A second trip was funded by Article 25 in which Julia Brunning and Nikki Linsell returned to present findings and recommendations and work again with the MET. A final report was produced  by Article 25's Nikki Linsell based on the team's hard work ("Whose Heritage Are We Restoring"), providing guidance on possible approaches facing the Mihai Eminescu Trust regarding public participation in the revival of the villages. The anticipated result being that a more sustainable and effective conservation plan can be generated. One which advocates the restoration of Saxon architecture, improved community facilities and economic and agricultural development through continued involvement within the local communities. Nikki also submitted her write up for her degree thesis at Nottingham University.

[ project  location ]

Saxon villages in Transylvania, Romania

[ project partner ]

Our project partner in Romania was the Mihai Eminescu Trust (MET).  MET is ‘dedicated to the conservation and regeneration of villages and communes in Transylvania and the Maramures’.

[ duration of project ]

Article 25 was asked by the Mihai Eminescu Trust to produce the report in October 2006.  After several site visits, the report was completed in November 2007.

[ project type ]

Along with the report analysing potential strategies to engage with local communities and build support for restoration work, this project involved producing a conditional survey of vernacular village houses.  It was Article 25's aim to document vernacular heritage and promote sustainable development. 

[ problem addressed ]

There are a number of issues facing communities in Transylvania, Romania.  Among these problems is: a declining village population and movement to urban centres; a risk of natural disasters e.g. earthquakes; lack of monitoring or control of architecture preservation; lack of care and civic initiative on behalf of local communities; and a lack of awareness or concern on behalf of the individual in respect to heritage values and preservation issues.

_{^{The role of the conservation practitioner and community participation in the respectful evolution of the villages of Saxon Transylvania:}}

The ethics of conservation and its role in a developing society is a strongly contested subject. It is easy to perceive that conservation is counter productive to development, an attempt to halt the process of social and environmental progression. Alternatively it could be seen as an element that prevents environmental degradation, whilst becoming a catalyst for social and economic evolution. By encouraging the engagement of local communities to help preserve the unique character of the Saxon villages and recognising that they are the custodians of the local heritage, conservation work could become this catalyst, helping the villages to sustain their own pluralistic communities.

A one day seminar on Community Action Planning was conducted during the second visit in May 07 to reciprocate this notion. Research was then conducted into the best methods to be used, resulting in the development of certain REAP (Rapid Ethnographic Assessment Procedure) techniques. Conversely, what became interesting was developing community participation in a post-communist society such as Romania would require greater research into participatory methods due to the lasting impact of the communist experience. To encourage a society that for decades was used to a rigid communist system, still in the process of coming to terms with the reality of a new political and free market economy, requires a very carefully constructed method of increasing engagement.