ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses that it is crucial to pay attention to the complexity of the symbolic system linking together the houses and the cities and their inhabitants. An expert focuses upon the features of the research field, the territorial phenomenology, the concreteness of settlements, and the assessment of the different contexts. However, the ethics of conviction cannot be separated from the ethics of responsibility, which require attention to the social meaning of a work. In this sense, the ethics of responsibility demands that a work is useful for the entire community, respectful of the available resources, and adequate in both spatial dimension and environmental sustainability. Architects are free to fail and make errors, especially when they aim at developing their design in an innovative and original way. For example, they make errors in the use of some new materials or in the realisation of certain constructions that, once realised, are not as good as someone expected or even are terrible.
