Sustainable Architecture in Context

STS and Design Thinking

Abstract

There has been little emphasis in STS scholarship to date on the design of the built environment. This paper attempts to address this oversight by examining alternative design practices in the growing field of sustainable architecture. We propose a geohistorical framework that includes three design dispositions?"context-bound, context-free, and context-rich?"and illustrate each with a prominent sustainable building practice. The principal argument of the paper is that each of these dispositions embodies distinct assumptions and attitudes about how to improve social and material conditions of the built environment, and as such, offers unique opportunities for STS scholars to shape the sociotechnical aspects of cities through intervention in design activities.