Enabling opportunities
κρίσις, (krísis,Greek): decision, choice, filter, sift, sort.
Crisis situations prompt us not only to take stock and analyze, but also to take action.
Why focus on territories in crisis, whether borders, camps or areas affected by natural disasters or economic crises? Not out of any fascination with disorder, but because it provides an opportunity to revise our view of a territory.
A crisis reshuffles the cards, upsets the balance of power and modifies territorial stabilities. A crisis is an accelerator, a window of opportunity. It broadens the scope of possibilities. Crises are not interruptions; they enable the invention of a new paradigm.
During these periods of vacillation, the risks of takeover are great and all decisions must be informed. Hence the need to put inclusive participatory process in place; no single expertise or expert can confidently decipher the course to be followed.
ETC’s aim is to be a structure of “enablement”. Working in territories in crisis requires listening, observation, creativity, innovation. We aim to help actors to turn crises into opportunities, define new ambitions and ensure the Right to the City for all.
At ETC, our work involves developing two complementary goals. Our first goal is to approach territories through the prism of their societal realities, and explore any tension among the people that occupy these territories, in order to understand the complex planning issues and identify options for introducing greater social and spatial justice. Our second goal focuses on revealing the poetic, sensitive or atypical aspects of territories in order to explore the power of the imaginaries they convey.
We at ETC believe that individual perceptions and collective imaginaries are essential for developing inclusive projects that support shared visions. At ETC, to support inclusion, ownership and citizenship, we design and implement participatory processes for use in the analysis, design, implementation or evaluation phases of development projects.
ETC investigates relations between territories and its actors with a view to identifying strengths and opportunities and developing innovative approaches. We assist stakeholders to build an understanding of and analyze spatial dynamics in order to enable them to set goals and allocate resources, adapt methodologies, and achieve long-lasting high-impact outcomes.
The Studio
Learning from territories in crisis
ETC is a research and project studio focusing on territories and habitats affected by crises. With humanitarian and development issues at its core, ETC extends its thinking on the right to housing, guaranteeing our basic needs, analysing inequalities, rebuilding our environments and resilience to risks into the fields of research and art. In the face of crisis, ETC’s work aims to create spaces for dialogue and reflection, with a view to collective change and greater social, spatial and environmental justice.
ETC was founded in 2010 by Simon Deprez and Eléonore Labattut. The pair works in collaboration with an interdisciplinary network of professionals from different fields (including architecture, urbanism, art, sociology and anthropology). ETC has been based in Lisbon since 2014.
