These essays from leading experts in the field focus on theory, education and practice in this essential sector of architecture, and help to formulate solutions to the challenges facing the global community today.

The issues surrounding the function and meaning of vernacular architecture in the 21st century are complex and extensive. Taking a distinctively rigorous theoretical approach, this book considers these issues from a number of perspectives, broadening current debate to a wider multidisciplinary audience. These collected essays from the leading experts in the field focus on theory, education and practice in this essential sector of architecture, and help to formulate solutions to the environmental, disaster management and housing challenges facing the global community today.

Foreword by Nezar AlSayyad. Introduction. Part One: The vernacular as process
1. Building tradition: Control and authority in vernacular architecture 2. Endorsing indigenous knowledge: The role of masons and apprenticeship in sustaining vernacular architecture -- the case of Djenne
3. Forms and meanings of mobility: The dwellings and settlements of sedentarised Irish Travellers
4. Engaging the future: Vernacular architecture studies in the twenty-first century
Part Two: Learning from the vernacular
5. Traditionalism and vernacular architecture in the twenty-first century
6. Learning from the vernacular: basic principles for sustaining human habitats
7. Lessons from the vernacular: integrated approaches and new methods for housing research
8. Sheltering from extreme hazards
9. A journey through space: cultural diversity in urban planning Part Three: Understanding the vernacular
10. Vernacular design as a model system
11. 'Generative concepts' in vernacular architecture
12. The future of the vernacular: towards new methodologies for the understanding and optimisation of the performance of vernacular buildings
13. Architectural education and vernacular building
14. Educating architects to become culturally sensitive.
Afterword by Paul Oliver.