However much we may prefer to discu

However much we may prefer to discuss architecture in terms ofvisual styles, its most far-reaching practical effects are not at thelevel of appearances at all, but at the level of space. By givingshape and form to our material world, architecture structures thesystem of space in which we live and move. In that it does so, ithas a direct relation一rather than a merely symbolic one一tosocial life, since it provides the material preconditions for thepatterns of movement, encounter and avoidance which are thematerial realisation一as well as sometimes the generator一ofsocial relations. In this sense, architecture pervades our everydayexperience far more than a preoccupation with its visual proper-ties would suggest. But however pervasive of everyday experience, the relationbetween space and social life is certainly very poorly understood.In fact for a long time it has been both a puzzle and a source ofcontroversy in the social sciences. It seems as naive to believe thatspatial organisation through architectural form can have a deter-minative effect on social relations as to believe that any suchrelation is entirely absent. Recent reviews of sociological researchin the area (Michelson, 19760 do not really resolve the matter.Some limited influences from such generalised spatial factors asdensity to social relations are conceded, subject to strong inter-action with such sociological variables as family (p. 92), homo-geneity (p. 192) and lifestyle (p. 94). But little is said about theways in which strategic architectural decisions about built formand spatial organisation may have social consequences. The puzzle is made more acute by the widespread belief thatmany modern environments are 'socially bad'. Again, there is atendency to discuss these in terms of simple and general physicalvariables, such as building height. However, the inference thatmore fundamental spatial factors are involved is strongly sup-ported by the failure of recent low-rise, high-density schemes toprovide a convincing alternative following the debacle of high-rise housing. Modern high- and low-rise housing have in commonthat they innovate fundamentally in spatial organisation, and bothproduce, in common it seems, lifeless and deserted environments.