September 2010

Upon recently reading an article in The Nation about social capitalism, a fairly new model in American business landscapes, I was inspired to blog about some of my personal philosophies on the matter. At its core, the model of social capitalism outlines that businesses are to be both competitive and socially responsible. The concept has been widely successful with European enterprises since WWII, and seems to have resulted in significant benefits, especially in economies recovering from recessions.

Components that are part of social capitalism include co-determination, supervisory boards and works councils.  I particularly like the notion of co-determination, which essentially holds that employees can have stake in the building they work under, much like a co-operative, and also elect a portion of the business’s board members.  Klas Levinson, a researcher for the former National Institute for Working Life in Sweden explained to The Nation, “Co-determination is Europe’s little secret advantage. The idea that elected worker directors should sit side by side as equal decision makers with stockholder representatives, supervising management, is a little-known yet unprecedented extension of democratic principle into the corporate sphere.”  We participate in a large-scale democracy, so why shouldn’t our corporate office environments act in much the same way?

With a widening gap between the wealthy and the poor and unfair business practices running rampant, I truly believe social capitalism is the wave of the future. I want to see employees invested – financially and emotionally – in their work spaces. I believe this will help employees feel solidarity and fairness, and also create a more productive and happier work environment.  

So how can an architect be involved in this growing movement? As an artist, I not only want to be creative, I want to be a cognitive problem solver and this new business structure presents an opportunity to be both. My goal is to assist in helping some of the co-determination corporate buildings flourish – whether that be through design, development or image. I see endless sociological and ecological benefits to this model, and it is truly something in which I want to participate.