Housing and neighbourhoods have an important contribution to make to our wellbeing and our sense of our place in the world. This book, written for a lay audience (with policy makers firmly in mind) offers a useful and intelligible overview of our housing system and why it is in ‘crisis’ while acting as an important reminder of how housing contributes to social value, defined as community, health, self development and identity. It argues for a holistic digital map-based planning system that...

Why Architects Matter examines the key role of research- led, ethical architects in promoting wellbeing, sustainability and innovation. It argues that the profession needs to be clear about what it knows and the value of what it knows if it is to work successfully with others. Without this clarity, the marginalization of architects from the production of the built environment will continue, preventing clients, businesses and society from getting the buildings that they need.

This is the first book to give such close attention to Le Corbusier's approach to the making of buildings. It illustrates the ways in which Le Corbusier's details were expressive of his overall philosophical intentions. It is not a construction book in the usual sense- rather it focusses on the meaning of detail, on the ways in which detail informs the overall architectural narrative of a building. Well illustrated and containing several specially prepared scaled drawings it acts as timely...

This practical, hands on introduction guides you through the basics of undertaking research in day-to-day architectural practice helping you to exploit the growing opportunities on offer. It explores how developing a research specialism can improve the quality of your projects, help to define your brand and generate new channels of revenue with innovative services for clients.The text is divided into four sections focussing on different types of Architecture Research Practice; comm...

This innovative edited collection charts the rise, fall and possible futures of the word primitive.The word primitive is fundamental to the discipline of architecture in the west, providing a convenient starting point for the many myths of architecture's origins. Since the almost legendary 1970s conference on the Primitive, with the advent of post-modernism and, in particular, post-colonialism, the word has fallen from favour in many disciplines. Despite this, architects continue t...

A Financial Times Best Book of the YearA Guardian Best Architecture Book of the Year“Sharp, revealing, funny.”—The Guardian“An original and even occasionally hilarious book about losing ideals and finding them again… [De Graaf] deftly shows that architecture cannot be better or more pure than the flawed humans who make it.”—The EconomistArchitecture, we like to believe, is an elevated art form...

Urban design enables better places to be created for people and is thus seen in Urban Design in the Real Estate Development Process as a place-making activity, rather than the application of architectural aesthetics. Urban design policy can change the 'decision environment' of developers, financiers, designers and other actors in the real estate development process to make them take place-making more seriously.This book reports diverse international experience from Europe ...

A collection of stimulating essays exploring the wide-ranging debates surrounding the relationship between business and society in 21st century Ireland.Wide-ranging, diverse and thought-provoking contributions from leading business researchers, economists, sociologists and political scientists from Ireland and abroad probe five central themes: the making and unmaking of the Celtic Tiger; governance, regulation and justice; partnership and participation; the nature of Irish borders ...

In principle the advanced, market-driven world in which we now live is fuelled by knowledge, information and transparency, but in practice the processes that produce this world systematically corrupt and denigrate knowledge: this is the powerful and provocative argument advanced by Colin Crouch in his latest exploration of societies on the road to post-democracy.Crouch shows that executives in profit-maximizing corporations have incentives to ignore or distort knowledge, especially...

From the author of Small Change comes this engaging guide to placemaking, packed with practical skills and tools that architects, planners, urban designers and other built environment specialists need in order to engage effectively with development work in any context.Drawing on four decades of practical and teaching experience, the author offers fresh insight into the complexities faced by practitioners when working to improve the communities, lives and livelihoods of people the w...

Sustainable Development is now firmly on the planning agenda and is an issue neither practitioner nor academic can afford to ignore. Planning for a Sustainable Future provides a multi-disciplinary overview of sustainability issues in the land use context, focusing on principles and their application, the legal, political and policy context and the implication of sustainable development thinking for housing, urban design and property development as well as waste and transport. The ...

Place-Keeping presents the latest research and practice on place-keeping – that is, the long-term management of public and private open spaces – from around Europe and the rest of the world. There has long been a focus in urban landscape planning and urban design on the creation of high-quality public spaces, or place-making. This is supported by a growing body of research which shows how high-quality public spaces are economically and socially beneficial for local communities and...