Examination of the literature about Community Architecture
suggested that, while there is no commonly accepted definition, the
term signifies the recognition, among some sections of the architectural
profession, of a demand from the public to play a larger part in
shaping the environment. Central to this is a belief that user
participation in architectural design will lead to buildings that will
be more satisfactory for their occupants. Such a claim is widely
made, despite the absence of empirical evidence to support it. Thus
the study was concerned with testing the proposition that, if user
clients participate in the design and development process, in building
projects, there will be greater satisfaction with the completed
buildings and environment than in projects where there has been no
user participation. User clients, here, are taken to mean organisations
of people who will occupy the buildings they have commissioned.
The levels of tenant satisfaction, in three housing co-operative
projects, were measured and compared with the levels of satisfaction
found in a previous study of local authority housing, in England and
Wales. While, high levels of satisfaction with the three Case Study
projects were found, these were not higher than the more successful
non-participatory schemes and, when combined with other data, it was
concluded that not enough evidence, to support the proposition had
been found. Furthermore, it was not clear whether the levels of
satisfaction in the Case Studies were a result of user participation
in design or related to other factors.
Three further issues were examined, which give some explanation
of these results. These were propositions that the levels of satisfaction
were related to (i) the quality of the built product, (ii) the
degree to which the participants were involved and the architect, thus
able to better interpret their requirements and (iii) the influence of
management and control which the user clients had over the projects in
general.
This revealed that user influence on the product was very
limited, that there were many unsolved problems in involving the
participants in the design process and that issues of control and
management were more significant than the role of design participation
in affecting the satisfaction of the occupants