The trajectory of architectural research in the UK and US: 1995–2016

Abstract

What has been the trajectory of architectural research in the UK (as reflected in arq: Architectural Research Quarterly) as compared to the United States (as reflected in the Journal of Architectural Education, or JAE) over the past two decades? To answer this question several quantitative methods were used to construct a frame analysis of the various grammars associated with each journal. First we quantify the grammars employed by arq according to the editors’ own categories. Second, we provide a word frequency analysis of arq's article titles and abstracts. Third, we assess the similarities and differences of the content in arq and JAE using the grammars reconstructed in the latter. Fourth, we use these data to reconstruct the trajectory of architectural research in arq. As a final analysis we place arq within the context of the historic emergence of journals recognised by the Avery Index of Architectural Periodicals from 1837 to the present. Our findings reveal numerous conflicts and similarities of content as a representation of the field as a whole and we conclude that these data provide at least three salient patterns worth considering as a foundation for the next two decades: (1) accelerated alienation of research from practice; (2) movement away from literary grammars toward ecological ones; and (3) the explosion of new publication venues and specialised grammars.