Architecture and the Urban Environment: A Vision for the New Age

This well illustrated text forms a critical appraisal of the place and direction of architecture and urban design in a new world order at the start of the 21st century. The book defines architectural and environmental goals for the New Age by analysing recent contemporary work for its responsiveness to important social and environmental issues and comparing it to successful precedents in architecture. It argues that this new sustainable approach to architecture should be recognised as a new development of mainstream architectural history. This practical guide illustrates current social and natural resource issues to aid architects in their approach to future design. Environmental economics is presented as a potential bridge over the divide between the expectations of the business sector and the concerns of environmental lobbies. Through examples and case studies, an accessible analysis of carefully researched data, drawn from primary sources over four continents, allows the author to outline the current urgency for architects and urban designers to respond with real commitment to current and future changing contexts. This book expresses a holistic vision and proposes a value system in response to the diagnosis. It includes: sound architectural and environmental ethics; end user involvement in the design process and technological advances aimed at sustainable resource use. It includes international case studies from Europe, North America, the Developing world including South Africa, South America and Central Asia. It contains 240 images of the world's most important buildings that have had an impact on architectural and urban design in the last decade. Discover the evolution of design through best practice across four continents in this accessible narrative. Explore shifting social, environmental, technological, economic and political issues and their relation to the role of architects, designers and developers in the new millennium.

Table of Contents:
Introduction. The Urban Habitat. Directions in Architecture. Cultural Rhythms. Urban Design in Response. Sensory Attributes. Architecture in Response. On Environmental Economics. The Timeless Way. Appendices. Bibliography. Index.

About the Author :
Derek Thomas resides in Cape Town, South Africa. A graduate of the Oxford School of Architecture UK and holder of a masters degree in environmental science from the University of Cape Town, he has been in architectural practice for 40 years and is a registered member of the respective professional institutes. More recently he has forged a new career as a writer on architectural and environmental issues of our times. The author's experience in finding responsive architectural and ecological solutions in his own country adequately equips him to write on the need to address the global paradigm shifts in cultural life and imperatives arising from climate change and excessive deployment of natural resources.During the 1990s the author was commissioned as architect and environmental planner for major housing projects : by a Garden Cities development company for middle-income housing on sites within metropolitan Cape Town; and by the Candidate City, Cape Town for the athletes' and media villages for the 2004 Olympic Games. A handbook written by the author on the generic requirements for the Olympic villages is assisting candidate cities in their future bids to host the Games. In recognition of this work, the author is registered as a researcher in the directory of the Centre for Olympic Studies in Barcelona.The author's current book Architecture and the Urban Environment : A Vision for the New Age is a summation of his abiding interest in architecture in the context of a changing world.

Review :
"By bringing a world perspective, the book provides many prompts to the asking of fundamental design questions, challenging preconceived design solutions. ...This book may help promote a wider and deeper view of alternative architectures." Building Engineer