Architects know the dilemma all too well: The social aspirations and demands elevate architecture to become a societal discipline, which the profession can rarely do justice to under current political…

Architects know the dilemma all too well: The social aspirations and demands elevate architecture to become a societal discipline, which the profession can rarely do justice to under current political and economic conditions. Today, many ask: Is the unpaid overtime still worth it? In any case, quiet quitting cannot be the solution. Rather, the task at hand is a (re)discovery of political practice in the everyday tasks of building: negotiating, prioritizing, convincing. Because in order to find a way out of the dilemma of having to work as architects, the work of architecture itself must be revolutionized. Only then might we be able to fully commit ourselves to architecture again. ARCH+ 251 is an unsparing look from different vantage points at architectural work between aspiration and (economic) reality. But the issue also explores what alternatives are already feasible today, so that the profession can find its way back to the aspirations of the discipline.