Abolishing Property as Architectural Care

“What does it mean to own your body and what does space have to do with that?” Rinaldo Walcott and Dr. Thandi Loewenson explored this question across different scales and geographies at “Abolishing Property as Architectural Care,” the second of five conversations in the Praxes of Care lecture series, hosted by the School of Architecture at Waterloo. Walcott, the Chair of the department of sociology and equity studies at University of Toronto, developed his argument for the abolition of property and a new ethic of care through four observations. Using examples of changes in design in parks, bus shelters, and bank machines, he illustrated how urban form creates systemic fear towards “people who are deemed to be outside of the norm.” He ended with a call to action for a new kind of social commons and reclamation of territory where care functions with the desire to “live better collectively together.” Loewenson, whose PhD in Architectural Design at The Bartlett focused on contesting the extractive agendas which drive the urban development of Lusaka agreed. She discussed …