The state of democracy around the world has substantially deteriorated in recent times. We are witnessing with concern a wave of emerging autocratic governments and powerful economic oligarchies tightly intertwined with one another like never before in modern times. Questioning how architecture and other design fields, which are social arts by definition, can play a role to help our fragile democratic processes and cultures against this onslaught of repressive forces seemed therefore a timely proposition for our journal to undertake. When we launched the call for this issue of TPJ on “democratic space” we asked ourselves and the global community of researchers: “… if democracy is to be seen as constitutive of the very spirit of modernity, how can modern architecture contribute to reifying (with Jürgen Habermas) ‘authentic modernity as opposed to mere modernism,’ ¹ and re-frame its strategies and tools in order to shape more democratic environments?” ²

More specifically we invited submissions to address issues relative to these fundamental questions: 

Be it a public space, an urban landscape, a public or commercial building, or a housing complex, what are the characteristics of a democratic space? What are the determinants that architecture design and urbanism can analyze, control and affect in order to suggest and foster a liberating, democratic (inclusive and equitable) environment? How can we design spaces, forms and places that evoke and promote the idea of democracy? ³

That is why we asked Teresa Hoskyns, whose 2014 landmark book on the subject I also discuss in the “Book Reviews” section, for an introductory piece to help us frame the issue. Hoskyns responded with a very interesting, as synthetic, recapitulation of her main arguments in the book, while weaving it through a fresher look at democratic (spatial) models outside the Western world, such as the one in China. 

We then organized the submissions approved through our double-blind peer-review process into three sections: “Critical Inquiries,” “Best Practices,” and “Case-Study Stories.”

In the first section, we present contributions that interrogate the relationships between democracy, architecture and urbanism historically (Adams), educationally (Gabriele), and through the artistic, intellectual and political experience of a towering figure of twentieth century European culture such as Pier Paolo Pasolini (Balzarotti and Fabris). Contributing to this general framework is also a book review, by our new Senior Editor Carla Brisotto, of the most recent book authored by Richard Sennett, arguably the most influential contemporary thinker on the subject.

For “Best Practices,” we present discussions of projects such as “Play for Democracy” in Sweden (Dahl and Theselius), participatory design through digital technology (Alkatlabe), the Medialab at the Prado Museum in Madrid (David and Daoudi), and daylight design for more compelling democratic interiors (Guzowski, Asojo and Pravinata). On the topic of “democratic interiors” we offer also the discussion by Olivia Hamilton in her book review of a recent and scholarly compelling work by Olga Touloumi on the interiors of the UN Headquarters in New York. 

In “Case-Study Stories,” we feature the historical transformations of Square Victoria in Montreal (Youssef), the discussions and design proposal around the memorial place of a “hero of democracy” such as the Mahatma Gandhi (Anklesaria), and a story of citizens’ activism against plans and forces leading to gentrification for a working class neighborhood in Brescia, Italy (Alioni and Badiani).

The topics and questions discussed in this issue of the journal have widely spreading ramifications across our societies, also at the global level. For example, the UN Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development, adopted in 2015 by member states, includes, among its Sustainable Development Goals, the one (SDG 11) that advocates, among its targets, to be reached by 2030, to “provide universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible, green and public spaces, in particular for women and children, older persons and persons with disabilities.” ⁴ As we have reminded in our call for submissions, Michael Murphy noted that “all architectural decisions have social and political implications, whether we acknowledge them or not. The spatial world affects us every day, affects our ability to live healthy lives, affects our environment, affects our communities… There’s no neutrality in design decisions.” ⁵ 

Outstanding contemporary figures, recipient in 2024 of major awards, such as Riken Yamamoto (Pritzker Prize) and Lesley Lokko (RIBA Gold Medal), were just recognized for precisely showing us the crucial relationship between architecture and democracy. And it is also fitting to remind us of the passionate farewell that Ernesto N. Rogers wrote to his readers of Casabella in his last editorial (December 1964), when he closed thus: “We will try to continue the activities conducted [at the magazine] with new work, so that it may be clear to everyone that we still believe in the utility of an ideal battle in the field of architecture, in its profoundly human, political, and social meaning, with a view that is anti-fascist, democratic and progressive.” ⁶

We hope that this issue of TPJ will help us grow an increasingly greater awareness of our awesome responsibility.