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The paper theorises and elaborates the idea of crowd-driven assemblies forflexible and adaptive constructions utilising automatic technologies andparticipatory activities within the context of twenty-first century cities. Aseconomic and technological movements and shifts in society and cultures arepresent and ongoing, the building technology needs to incorporate human inputsfollowing the aspects of customisation to build adaptive architectural and urbanscenarios based on immediate decisions made according to local conditions orspecific spatial demands. In particular, the paper focuses on large-scaleprototyping for urban applications along with on-site interactions betweenhumans and automatic building technologies to create on-demand spatialscenarios. It discusses the current precedents in research and practice andspeculates future directions to be taken in creation, development or customisationof contemporary and future cities based on participatory and crowd-drivenbuilding activities. The main aim of this theoretical overview is to offer a morecomprehensive understanding of the relations between technology and humans inthe context of reactive and responsive built environments.