2 The psychiatrists of Letterman Hospital

If you look at the task of building from a builder’s point of view, or from an administrator’s point of view — especially in a large and complex project — the idea of involving users in the discussion, hearing their conflicting visions, trying to reconcile opposing points of view — can become a political and administrative nightmare.
No wonder participation by users is so often refused by administrators — in buildings and in towns. The refusal makes some narrow practical sense and business sense. Yet, even so, the refusal is still wrong. Such hands-on participation — allowing people to shape their own world as they want it to be — is a natural right of people. And it is the only way deep adaptation (and therefore ultimately, people’s satisfaction) can occur.

#book/The Nature of Order/3 A Vision of a Living World/8 Forming a collective vision of a neighborhood#