Reformism, Critique, Radicalism

Understanding the role of critique in society requires delineating the development and dissipation of reformist and revolutionary movements since the nineteenth century and identifying the manner in which these movements deployed critique. Architecture’s own involvement in these movements, mobilized as a means of bettering society, meant also its intertwinement with diverse critiques of society. From this perspective, the abandonment of architectural modernism in the 1970s must be seen as an expression of the retreat from reformism, while the challenges which critique has faced in recent times, both within and without architecture, are directly linked to an era in which reformism has been embattled and revolutionary movements completely annihilated. The following chapter unfolds the multi-faceted relations between these diverse protagonists as a means of explaining the present condition of architectural critique.