Captives of Design
Richard Swift argues that we need more say in the shape of our future.

Four ears, six hands
John Van Nostrand and Michael Wellwood reveal what Africa taught them about being architects.

Lost in (planned) space
A day spent surviving design.

The shape of change
Reports from Niger, Brazil and Thailand

Malldom
John Barber on the retail industry's most effective selling machine.

A history of architecture

Towers of the new gods
The age-old inclination to build to the sky has peaked in this skyscraper era. Jeremiah Creedon wonders what we are trying to escape.

Poverty and Pride
In Chile the fight for housing and community is part of a bigger struggle for change. A report by Lake Sagaris.

Simply .how to judge architecture

A woman's place
Lucie McCauley looks at a growing feminist movement which aims to redesign the home.

They paved paradise
Steve Izma warns of a catastrophic collision between nature and urban architecture.

Fred lives in the same housing co-op as I do. Rain or shine he hangs out in the grass courtyard around which the two- and three-storey brick dwellings are clustered. Fred always has a hello, a helping hand or a quick weather forecast for any of his neighbours. He is like a quiet version of the old towncryer - bringing greetings, neighbourhood news and advice.

It makes a big difference to have someone like Fred to greet you when you go out for the Globe and Mail in the morning or come back from the Toronto NI office after a long day of listening to subscribers' complaints about late magazines. It is hard to imagine Fred living in an anonymous high-rise apartment or even a standard suburban house without his conviviality withering away.

In some strange way the buildings where we live and work have a role in shaping us. They reinforce some of our proclivities and frustrate others: self-absorption or an openness to other people; frenetic activity or a more contemplative approach to the world. But while architecture is important to the quality of our lives it is a subject I tackle hesitantly.

The hesitancy stems from entering a specialized world of strongly held views. I find it much clearer to take a stand on something overtly political than something so dependent on personal taste. Why are my tastes any more valid than someone else's? That said, I hold very strong views about the wall of concrete that separates Toronto from its lakefront - or about the sacrifice of historic city centres on the altar of the automobile.

But unlike Prince Charles I cannot bring myself to blame these things on architects. The architects I know, I like a lot. They tend to be obsessive and idealistic. Ideas matter to them. They are mostly poor and lack the confident self-satisfaction that is so irritating in other professionals. If they are sometimes guilty of arrogance it is because, as one architect put it to me recently, 'you have to be arrogant if you believe in a design. You have to overcome the commercial prejudices of developers, the pettiness of planners and everyone else who thinks they know better than you'. I could understand the point but also see its dangers. It assumes the best of intentions on the part of the architect when inevitably some of them are hacks and others are despots.

The NI strives to be a popular magazine - to make its exploration of a subject as lively and entertaining as possible. I believe in this ideal. As a reader myself I know that on a lot of subjects I want a colourful and coherent overview with the occasional outburst of pure opinion.

Yet as an editor there is always a danger of getting so immersed in the subject at hand that you reproduce the language and ways of seeing that are the currency of tomes on world finance - or in this case architectural journals. On the other hand in striving to popularize you run the risk of losing credibility. I fear that most dreaded of comebacks from someone who has intimate knowledge of the subject: 'if you are this wrong on something I really know about, how can I trust you on the things of which I have no knowledge?'

There should be a creative tension between popularizing a subject and putting a well-thought-out interpretation on the facts. The balance needs to be right or one risks yawns at the one extreme or simple dismissal at the other. But I don't mind provoking disagreement. And I have a feeling that on something as subjective as architecture I be pretty sure of achieving at least this.

Letters
Letter from La Paz
Update
Endpiece: by Pramoedya Ananta Toer
Reviews: including H G Wells classic
Country profile: Haiti

COVER ILLUSTRATION: Hector Cattolica
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