Design for a Complex World: Challenges in Practice and Education

This is a book conceived in the ever-widening realm of design practice and education. It is premised on the belief that the forces of globalization—that have affected design practice for decades—have, in recent years, manifest themselves in design education as well. Consequently, it brings authors, practitioners, and educators together from 10 countries across six continents. They each offer an overview of the socio-cultural and economic factors that affect the built environment in their particular region of the world. They discuss how the practices of architecture, interior design, planning, and landscape architecture interact with those forces but, equally as importantly, they discuss how design education does the same. This book is written by and for practitioners, educators, and students of the built environment whose critical eye is prepared to scan the globe for lessons that are both universally, but also specifically applicable to their own geographical and discipline context. It is more specifically geared to those who see the built environment through a socio-political prism and also as a model through which we can better understand that external context.

Graham Cairns is editor of the academic journal Architecture_MPS and editor of the book Reinventing Architecture and Interiors: The Past, the Present and the Future. He is the author of The Architecture of the Screen – Essays in Cinematographic Space; Deciphering Advertising, Art and Architecture; and the Spanish language book The Architect Behind the Camera. He has worked in architectural studios in London and Hong Kong and has run a performing arts group called Hybrid Artworks.