Editorial: Understanding and Researching Traditional Environments

During the 20 th century, accelerating developments in construction, transportion and information technologies have made it possible to create environments almost anywhere on the planet which are no longer a product of locally available resources nor a response to local climatic conditions. Perhaps more critically still, the intimate interrelationship between built environments and the cultural values of those who build and inhabit them have been fractured. It is now possible to construct buildings and places which respond to the value systems of lifestyles and decision makers on different continents. We are all too familiar with these examples of universal design which reflect and privilege the values of so-called global culture at the expense of local cultures.