ABSTRACT
Chapter 14 discusses time-related processes. For design, participation ranges from tokenistic ‘consultation’ about imported ideas to full creative inputs. Consensus Design starts at the least contentious end: material description, then progresses stepwise to place-spirit. Design reverses this: condensing from the desired place-spirit, place-mood, spatial gestures, then material form. By excluding ideas – originating from individuals, not from the place or project – this synthesizes places’ and users’ needs.
Whether new developments fit into past-formed contexts depends on mood-compatibility. But surroundings change. Although the future is unknowable, viewing place-evolution as an unbroken journey helps identify and understand place-formative pressures, increasing the likelihood of economic, social and ecological success. Time, however, has other aspects: price, cost and value. Cost is about getting things. The market determines price. But value reflects a place’s essential being. Whereas time bought means cost, time given donates part of life, so produces soul-benefit. Without this, economy is valueless.
