Scarcity and Agency

An article looking at how one might resolve the apparent contradiction between scarcity (which in its lack might be seen to shut down opportunities) and agency (which is open ended and transformative).: first sight the title of this essay might appear to be a contradiction in terms. Scarcity, defined at core as a lack, would suggest the closing down of options in an effort to reduce production and consumption. Agency, on the other hand, is increasingly associated with an opening up, a widening of activities so as to intervene in, and adjust, overarching structures. A recent research project that I have been involved in suggests, however, that scarcity not only forms a context for an activist sense of agency but actually demands it. But to get to this alliance of scarcity and agency, and with it the potential for new constitutions of architectural practice, it is first necessary to unpack some founding assumptions of scarcity. . .