ABSTRACT
In this chapter the author offers a speculation on the future place of architecture in society. The present transformation of the political economy of construction follows increasing industrialisation since 1900. After all, that idea is inconsistent with other important alignments to be found within the structures of the new economy, where technical knowledge and intellectual property are widely distributed in often novel patterns. Jeremy Till's engaging polemic, Architecture Depends, points out at length the extent to which architecture is now dependent on the new economy. Although Andrew Rabeneck have discussed mainly architecture, this observation applies also to the engineering disciplines. Fees are steep and thus the arrangement admirably suits the institutions that host the schools of architecture. His characterisation of the educational milieu is perhaps caricatured, yet it clearly resonates with many practitioners who has to educate its often barely formed graduates and with the students themselves who lament their low pay and frustrating lack of usefulness to society.
