Platforms: re-framing urban relocation through an ownership model for resident-led transformations of the built environment

Abstract

Changing economic, demographic, and technological forces are shaping new balances of power across the planet. Systems of exchange fueled by urbanization, regional dynamism, the commodification of land, and increasingly unilateral economic and spatial policy frameworks are transforming the built environment and result in the displacement and relocation of infrastructures, buildings, and residents. In mono-industry cities, whose labor markets depend on the continued productivity of a single industry or company, the ability of residents to engage and participate in the decision-making process when it comes time to move is restricted by their economic and regional dependence, the extent of physical infrastructure outside of the urban area, and their capacity to initiate large-scale action. In practice, there is a need to re-define the systems of urban relocation, in terms of authority, process, and outcomes, in order to create a multilateral framework that can be applied across contexts. First, it is necessary to understand and critically examine the current scalar systems of exchange that drive relocation, including: local property rights transfers; regional spatial, environmental, and land use policy; and the interrelated components of telecoupled interactions. Then, a new integrative systems framework proposes four operational platforms developed in response to key issues of ownership, infrastructure, housing, and services to increase the capacity, choice, and financial mobility of residents on both near- and long-term timeframes. Design strategies that consider user-occupant flexibility and value-creation address growth, management, and social stability in a model of stakeholder capitalism that places residents on the other side of the decision-making table.