Curated by Stéphane Damsin and Jan Haerens of the Brussels architectural firm Ouest, the exhibition ‘Urban Legend’ will open on 15th October at Bozar. Drawing on stories from urban planners, artists and writers, they will present their vision of the city as a living organism. On the occasion of this show, they contributed to this issue of A+ on co-creation and shared authorship, a transdisciplinary approach in which non-architects are actively involved in the desing and construction process.

Co-creation is a powerful but complex work process: it stimulates knowledge sharing, creativity and community building, but it requires time, care and long-term commitment. The essence lies not so much in setting up collective information and imagination sessions, but in listening attentively, collecting stories and getting a feel for the everyday use of a space. This process of attunement, dealing with uncertainties and seeking consensus, therefore, transcends the classic design brief of the architect. The question is therefore whether co-creation, many aspects of which are psychological, sociological or political in nature, falls within the architect’s already rather broad range of duties (and often rather limited fee). When we harbour such expectations, we fall back into a mindset in which the architect is expected to be able to solve all problems and is required to do so.

In order for co-creation to really take root, the architectural profession therefore needs methods, examples and tools from other disciplines. We hope that the range of stories and projects shown in this publication will help to point the way forward.