The Ethics of architecture / Mark Kingwell

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Preface -- Built Forms and Ethics: The General Issues -- Chapter 1. Creating Buildings -- Chapter 2. Creating Environments -- Chapter 3. Creating Communities -- Chapter 4. Creating Art -- Chapter 5. Creating Justice -- Chapter 6. Creating Being -- Chapter 7. Epilogue: Afterthoughts; or Thoughts After Walking Acknowledgments

The Ethics of Architecture offers a short and approachable scholarly introduction to a timely question: in a world of increasing population density, how does one construct habitable spaces that promote social goals like health, happiness, environmental friendliness, and justice? What are the special ethical obligations assumed by architects? Because their work creates the basic material conditions that make all other human activity possible, architects and their associates in building enjoy vast influence on how all we live, work, play, worship, and think. With this influence comes tremendous, and not always examined, responsibility. This book addresses the range of ethical issues that architects face, with a broad understanding of ethics. Beyond strictly professional duties - transparency, technical competence, fair trading - lie more profound issues that move into aesthetic, political, and existential realms.