On the condition of urban and architectural design

Abstract

Postmodern architecture, across the 1960 and 1970 decades, was concerned to semiotic and meaning theories, including the existential and phenomenological philosophy. Build space’s perceptual experiences took relevance under new space-thinking view, shared by another same matter researching disciplines in a phenomenological frame, but constructivist, poststructuralist, and deconstructivist too, which drives the stream of architectonic and urban design forward to today. The importance of a revision and critique of key concepts such as identity or urban imaginaries, which refer to the point of view of the city's actors, is raised as an indispensable factor in understanding the "complex nature of design". The result is a change of theories and concepts to understand both the complex reality faced by design and one of its levels of reality: the significant dimension of urban actions, interactions, and imaginaries.