Course detail

Sociology of Architecture

FA-SAR-ZEAcad. year: 2025/2026

The sociology of architecture is a broad discipline concerning itself with material artefacts, ideas and contexts related to these artefacts and analysis of the architectural profession. The sociological understanding of architecture is rooted in sociological definitions of space as sociospatial interaction between social and built worlds. Architecture as a place where we live is linked to other social features and forms, such as perceptions, norms, group interactions, cultural norms associated with specific activities and also power. Relating to the topic of the semester, the course aims to conceptualize the variety of actors of architecture as a process and a result, placing architecture in the nexus of economic, political, social, and cultural relationships.

Language of instruction

English

Number of ECTS credits

3

Mode of study

Not applicable.

Guarantor

Dr. Dalia Čiupailaitė-Višnevska

Department

European Humanities University ()

Aims

  • Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to outline and critically analyse the roles of different actors of architecture as a process and the result.
  • By the end of this course, students will be able to plan and develop an independent research project designed to situate a selected architectural project in economic, political, social, and cultural relationships.

Rules for evaluation and completion of the course

  • Oral presentations during seminars (30%, during semester)
  • Research paper (70%, at the end of the course)

Study aids

Not applicable.

Prerequisites and corequisites

Not applicable.

Basic literature

Crawford, M. 1991. Can architects be socially responsible? in D. Ghirardo (Ed.). Out of site: a social criticism of architecture. Seattle: Bay Press, 27–46. (EN)
Duncan, James S., Duncan, Nancy G. 2004. Landscapes of Privilege. The Politics of the Aesthetic in an American Suburb. Routledge. Chapter 5. Legislating Beauty: The Politics of Exclusion, excerpt 20 pages. (EN)
Gutman, R. [1977] 2007a. Architecture: the entrepreneurial profession, in D. Cuff, J. Wriedt (Eds.). Architecture from the outside in: selected essays by Robert Gutman. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 33–43. (EN)
Jones. Paul. 2011. Constructing Identities. Liverpool University Press. Chapter: Iconic Architecture and Regeneration: The Form is the Function, pp. 116 – 139. (EN)
Latour, B. ; Yaneva, A. 2008. Give me a Gun and I will Make All Buildings Move: An ANT’s View of Architecture. In: R. Geiser (ed.) Explorations in Architecture: Teaching, Design, Research. Basel: Birkhauser, p. 80–89. (EN)
Lefebre, H. 1991. The Production of Space. Oxford, Cambridge: Blackwell, 1991. 1 chapter, excerpt, 20 pages. (EN)
Yaneva, Albena. 2012. Mapping Controversies in Architecture. Ashgate. 63-68, 83-98, 103. (EN)

Recommended reading

D. Cuff, J. Wriedt (Eds.). Architecture from the outside in: selected essays by Robert Gutman. New York: Princeton Architectural Press. (EN)
de Carlo, Giancarlo. 2005. Architecture is too important to leave to the architects, interview with Giancarlo de Carlo Volume 2005 #2 Doing (Almost nothing). (EN)
Ghirardo, Diane. 1991. Out of site: a social criticism of architecture. Seattle: Bay Press. (EN)
Jacobs, Jane. 1961. Death and Life of Great American Cities. New York: Vintage books. (EN)
Sennett, Richard. 2018. Building and dwelling: ethics for the city. Allen Lane, an imprint of Penguin Books. (EN)
Yaneva, Albena. 2017. Five Ways to Make Architecture Political. An Introduction to the Politics of Design Practice. Bloomsbury Publishing. (EN)

Classification of course in study plans

  • Programme NE_INUS Master's 1 year of study, summer semester, compulsory

Type of course unit

 

Seminar

6 hod., compulsory

Teacher / Lecturer

Dr. Dalia Čiupailaitė-Višnevska

Syllabus

1. Why architecture (sociologically) matters. [1 hour]
3. Cultural political economy or architecture. The role of the state in architecture. [1 hour]
4. Mapping controversies, ANT‘s perspective towards mapping actors in the architectural project. [1 hour]
5. Architects as actors in architecture. [1 hour]
6. Real and imaginary people: users as actors in architecture. [1 hour]
8. Real estate development as a site for architectural and urban production. [1 hour]

Lecture

10 hod., optionally

Teacher / Lecturer

Dr. Dalia Čiupailaitė-Višnevska

Syllabus

1. Why architecture (sociologically) matters. [2 hours]
2. A field of players, a space of possibilities: Bourdieusian perspective on actors in the city. Lecture by the guest lecturer Tadas Šarūnas. [2 hours]
3. Cultural political economy or architecture. The role of the state in architecture. [1 hour]
4. Mapping controversies, ANT‘s perspective towards mapping actors in the architectural project. [1 hour]
5. Architects as actors in architecture. [1 hour]
6. Real and imaginary people: users as actors in architecture. [1 hour]
7. Lecture (a walk) by the guest lecturer Tadas Šarūnas: A search for community in a city. [2 hours]