Architectural Design and Regulation

"Regulations and associated governance practices, relating to the design of the built environment are an integral part of the design process and warrant serious attention by scholars of urban design. The regulations that condition the building process are neither ephemeral nor insignificant yet they have barely been the subject of academic investigation. Governments are placing increasing emphasis on design codes, building regulations, and planning statements to guide the conduct of architects, and to fashion much more of the design process but there has been little research on what architects feel and think about this, and how it is affecting what they do and their daily patterns of work. The book offers insights into a number of important relationships: the impact of regulations on architects and their designs; the use of regulations to create or sustain shared bodies of knowledge and common understanding between different actors (i.e. designers, contractors, regulators); and, the social issues of how risk is shared (between designers and the state) for creating and ascertaining that the minimum (design) conditions are satisfied. The book develops two lines argument: 1. Regulatio