The study of how economic systems and political structures interact and influence each other, including the ways in which public policies, institutions, and power dynamics affect the production, distribution, and consumption of resources. It bridges economics, politics, and sociology to understand how decisions are made, who benefits from them, and how societal outcomes are shaped by both markets and governments.
FAR recognises a difference between technology and technique. Technology can be regarded as a reflection on the use, scope, and implications of techniques, technology encompasses techniques, but frames them within systems of tools, knowledge, infrastructure, and effects. Technological thinking within construction industry deals with technical systems, intended as all the materials, elements and components that make up the physical reality of the building.
Socio-technical theory has at its core the idea that the design and performance of any organisational system can only be understood and improved if both ‘social’ and ‘technical’ aspects are brought together and treated as interdependent parts of a complex system.
Design as distinct from engineering defines principles which inspire physical trans-formation.
In FAR’s interpretation, design is the moment of verification of the space within which the landscape of production encloses the expressive instance of the architectural project.
Design is the activity of defining and solving problems, of structuring information which, on the basis of well identified conditions and rules, envisages and communicates specific lines of action; according to this description, design-definable work would enter all dimensions of the building procurement process, irrespective of the architect’s engagement, from building scope formulation to building production, building erection to building use and maintenance, project definition to project control. The act of design is not limited to architectural form or building engineering. It pervades the entire process of land transformation and delves into the social organization of production.