Decadence with elegance

Aesthetics and housing consumption in times of crisis

Abstract

Faced with a global and disciplinary crisis, part of contemporary architectural and urban culture follows a “sense of economics”. Can this same sense be related to a precariousness or to a “precarious atmosphere” observed in the refunctionalisations of abandoned buildings in degraded areas? How precariousness,  provisional, decadence,  obsolescence "cross"  architectural and urbanistic disciplines, their rules and their operation modes? How do these concepts operate on reality and are shaped by it? Guided by these questions, the study rehearses a reflection on the “precarious” as an aesthetic and consumption phenomenon, and evaluates how this impact the housing supply in post-industrial areas requalifications. The origin of the phenomenon, its impact on the disciplines and its co-option by the consumption system are discussed, when creating a desire to live “the and in precarious”, conditions the housing supply and urban gentrification processes. It is expected that the reflection will expand discussions on contemporary conditions of Architecture and Urbanism.