The Regulation of Design in Global Architecture Firms: Embedding and Emplacing Buildings

Abstract

The emergence of global architecture firms and their role in the production of city architectures raises a number of questions for social scientists. For example, how— indeed do—global architects ensure that the buildings they design are ‘in place’ and appropriate for the urban cultural, economic, social and political contexts in which they are to be built? The aim of the paper is to consider this question. ‘Regulation’ is taken in its broadest sense and the paper explores the role of standards and codes as well as other forms of social regulation in the process of emplacing designs. It is argued that, in order to understand how buildings are put in their place, analysis is needed of both the design-side adaptations architects make to buildings and also the consumption side regulation of designs and the way the behaviours of those inhabiting buildings produce ‘local’ meaning.