The sustained use and reuse of existing buildings is key in addressing social inequality and reinforcing sustainability and resilience in peripheral, disadvantaged communities of the so-called developed world. Collective-use facilities built since the 1940s, the outcome of individual and common efforts, carry decades of service to communities and are repositories of both material and experiential values. Knowing their history of production and use is essential in reassessing their relevance for current and future needs: yet to be effective this knowledge must be appropriable and relatable, co-created and widely shared. This paper discusses how such premises are put to the test in Arquitectura Aqui, a research and dissemination initiative underway in communities in Portugal and Spain, where local engagement in co-narrating the past and present of buildings and their role in collective life, in a participation and dissemination platform, might contribute to a public architectural history of community buildings.

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Public History,Architecture,Collective-Use Facilities,Portugal,Spain,Community