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Anne I think it is important whatever you find not to confuse the now cliched empowerment discourse with power. Action research of certain persuasions fell into the empowerment cliché some time ago. I would have thought that foucault concept of power as relationsl and productive will figure in there somewhere. So I suppose ilm saying theorize power first. Is it retational and produced or do you think some pepele or institutions have it like having the flu.this will affect how you proceed -----Original Message----- From: "A.B.Thorpe" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> To: A.B.Thorpe <[log in to unmask]> Sent: 29/06/2009 5:46:09 PM Subject: seeking refs on how artifacts (buildings/power) mediate power Hello All, I’m looking for references on the topic of how artifacts (buildings, products) mediate power. It seems that across both buildings and products there are perhaps three strands in the literature. The first strand concerns how those in power use artifacts to mediate power (for example the Winner, “Do artifacts have politics” debate, Dovey, and Leach). A second strand, perhaps emerging from the usability/accessibility/participatory side, concerns how objects or buildings “empower” or enable users. For products, this strand materializes in “usability” discourse (eg Donald Norman’s work) and in recent “behavior steering design” research that aims to increase energy and environmental efficiency in product use (for example Bhamra et. al. and Lockton et. al.). On the architecture side I’m less familiar with a literature on empowerment through architecture. Empowerment is in the margins of many discussions and projects, but I’d like to get a few references that deal with “power/empowerment” issues head-on with some connection to underlying theory. I imagine this strand of literature is tied to participatory design (eg design/build?), universal design (for disability, age) but may also be tied to operability (eg openable windows) and flexibility in building program and user adaptation (along the lines of Brand’s “How Buildings Learn”). Across both buildings and products I think there is a third strand in which users adapt (“hack” or “transgress” if you like) artifacts to protest existing power relations. Here Otto von Busch’s “self passages” (http://www.selfpassage.org/) comes to mind and I welcome references that look at this issue more explicitly and perhaps theoretically. I welcome other thoughts on references in any of the above areas. Here are a few longer cites for mentions above: Bhamra, T. A., D. Lilley, and T. Tang. 2008. Sustainable Use: Changing consumer behavior through product desgin. In Changing the Change. Turin, Italy: Umberto Allemandi & Co. Lockton, Dan, David Harrison, and Neville Stanton. 2008. Making the user more efficient: Design for sustainable behavior. International Journal of Sustainable Engineering preprint April 2008. Dovey, Kim. 1999. Framing Places: Mediating Power in Built Form. Edited by T. A. Markus and A. D. King, The Architext Series. London: Routledge. Winner, Langdon. 1980. Do Artefacts Have Politics? Daedalus 109:121-136. [also various rebuttals] Brand, Stewart. 1994. How Buildings Learn. New York: Viking. Norman, Donald. 2002. The Design of Everyday Things. New York: Basic Books. Leach, Neil. 1999. "Architecture or Revolution" in Architecture and Revolution, edited by Neil Leach. London, Routledge. Regards, Ann Ann Thorpe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dept of Design, Development, Environment & Materials Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, United Kingdom Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London Wates House, 22 Gordon Street London WC1H 0QB, United Kingdom [log in to unmask] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . book: The Designer's Atlas of Sustainability (www.designers-atlas.net) & blog: http://designactivism.net discussion list: SUSDESIGNTEACH --------------------------------- The Open University is incorporated by Royal Charter (RC 000391), an exempt charity in England & Wales and a charity registered in Scotland (SC 038302).