Stone Soup

I've been reading Expanding Architecture/Design as Activism edited by Bryan Bell and Katie Wakeford. It's pretty amazing so far. Very much along the lines of Design like you Give a Damn. A fresh new way of looking at architecture, quite a different track from the current trend of theory, aesthetics, etc.

So far, I particularly liked the essay on "Designing with an Asset-Based Approach," which basically suggests looking to a community's strengths rather than deficiencies. The following paragraph is a nice summary: "Asset-based design is like the classic tale of stone soup. One person starts with just a few stones, another person lends a pot, someone else gives some water, someone donates a carrot, and so on until a delicious soup is made that can serve all. In asset-based design the designer can act as the instigator with the stones, conceiving of a community project that can benefit everyone involved and would not happen otherwise."(125)

If I learned anything from Bike and Build, it's that people can achieve amazing things, you just need the right people. It's just finding those people that's the tricky part.