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

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 the buildings they design are ‘in place’ and appropriate for the urban cultural, economic, social and political contexts they are to be built in? The aim of the paper is to consider this question. I take ‘regulation’ in its broadest sense and explore the role of standards and codes as well as other forms of social regulation in the process of emplacing designs. I argue 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 but also the consumption side regulation of designs and the way the behaviours of those inhabiting buildings produce ‘local’ meaning