Architecture as Action Research

“Hostile architecture” is a phenomenon of urban public space that serves to influence the experience of a city and the associated processes of use and appropriation, either consciously or unconsciously. Metal angles, concrete pyramids, jagged steel strips such as particular designs of seating. The contemporary discussions about this topic make use of various narratives, but empirical research does not exist. So what are the real effects of these measures on the urban population and their everyday lives, and how can these be explored and addressed by an activist architectural practice?

"Architecture as Action Research" develops a concept for research into urban issues that uses activist, artistic actions to explore and simultaneously work on existing problematic situations in the public space of the city. It represents a further development and implementation of the Right to the City by the French sociologist Henri Lefebvre and asks about the activist potential of architectural practice. Scientifically, the approach is based on the sociological, critical method of action research by sociologist Kurt Lewin, which examines the impact of physical, psychological or social action's. The concept developed in the theoretical part of the work is then tested on the urban phenomenon of hostile architecture. For this purpose, artistic concrete sculptures were designed as countermeasures to 3 case studies. They take up the form of the hostile architectures and the architectural elements on which they are placed, and make the location usable again. The 3 examples of hostile architecture prevent sitting or lying down and are attached to facades or objects in public spaces in the city of Stuttgart. The attachment of the sculpture represents the action in the research. In the run-up to these actions, a spatial and social analysis was carried out using photos and maps of the surroundings and the location in which the examples are found. After the actions, the effect of the sculptures on their social environment, on the everyday live in public space, and their appropriation through users were observed and recorded. This provided empirical evidence of how severely hostile architecture influences and hinders everyday urban life and that architectural activism and the temporary appropriation of space are concepts that will be needed in the city of the future.