Architecture and the Public Good

Why has explaining the value of the architecture profession proven so difficult? The architecture profession can be well-defended by demonstrating the public good which results from its protected practice. Although the book believes in this approach, this approach immediately raises the thorny questions of just who is the public, and what is its good? To answer these questions, to explain why the profession has done a poor job explaining itself, and to propose a fresh perspective are the challenges set out in this book. The book dissects the internal weaknesses and external forces which have prevented architects from asserting their value to the public, explains how the concept of the public is itself widely misunderstood, investigates the shifting boundaries of the public and private realms, and proposes a series of measures by which we can assess and improve an architectural work’s publicness. Through a renewed focus on the public good that everyday architects are capable of as a profession, the book charts an ultimately optimistic program for the architecture profession’s renewal. 

Table of Contents:
List of Figures; Acknowledgments; 1. The Architecture Profession and the Public Good; 2. The Architecture Profession in Capitalism; 3. Who Is the Public?; 4. Public and Private; 5. Toward an Architecture of Publicness; Appendix; Notes; Bibliography; Index.

About the Author :
Tom Spector is Professor of Architecture at Oklahoma State University in the United States. He is a licensed architect and a leader in the field of architectural ethics.

Review :
“Tom Spector combines an insider’s seasoned perspective on practice with the academic’s critical insight. Skillfully navigating among philosophy, economics and professional concerns, he is unflinchingly forthright on architecture’s internal shortcomings. This provocative diagnosis identifies opportunities for change and asserts a clearer claim for the ethical public value of our work.” — Graham Owen, Associate Professor, Tulane University, Editor, Architecture, Ethics and Globalization “Since The Ethical Architect of 2001 Spector has emerged as amongst the foremost thinkers about the multiple moral dilemmas facing the architectural profession. This book, raising important philosophical issues for all students of the subject, in the eloquent and masterly way to which we have become accustomed, deserves the widest readership.” — Nicholas Ray, Emeritus Reader in Architecture, University of Cambridge, Emeritus Fellow, Jesus College, Cambridge and Visiting Professor, University of Liverpool School of Architecture “Tackling some perennial paradoxes of the architecture profession, Tom Spector excavates the field’s ingrained assumptions about class, patriarchy, and power. By countering the status quos of neoliberal architectural practice, he asserts new performance specifications for the profession founded on principled and sustained commitment to a revivified public realm. —George Barnett Johnston, Professor, Georgia Institute of Technology