Think tanks: especulações e distrações em arquitetura e urbanismo

Abstract

If the absence of a critical attitude has characterized the architectural discipline from the 1990s, the architecture research can be seen as a possible proponent of new repertoires for resumption of critical thinking of social issues. In this sense, the purpose of this paper is to analyze how speculations in the form of research or project contribute to our disciplinary field. Within this theme, investigates the work of think tanks associated with architectural firms from the 2000s through primary evidence analysis, especially books and publications of think tanks themselves - especially The Why Factory, with origins in the Dutch firm MVRDV and associated with the Delft University of Technology, case study of this article. Thus, the possible repercussions of research and design in the architecture and urban planning in a time of crisis and removal of architectural discipline in decision-making related to urban development will be analyzed. Finally, we point out that such speculative research and experimental projects constitute a work methodology that requires periodic theoretical reflections. We have observed some critical initiatives against a scenario that has long been hegemonic, but still mostly closed in the discipline itself and which must be complemented by actions that permeate other fields of knowledge. Critical reviews of these institutions' proposals are therefore important for possible disciplinary redirects aligned with the demands of the twenty-first century, especially new repertoires facing the global south.