Po prvi puta u povijesti više od polovice svjetskog stanovništva živi u gradovima. Ta demografska činjenica bila je očekivana jer je cijeli moderni razvoj vodio prema urbaniziranom društvu, prema civilizaciji gradova. No, na rast civilizacije gradova tek u ograničenoj mjeri ima utjecaj akademska arhitektonska kultura koja je privilegija "izuzetnih" mjesta. S druge strane, građenje koje bi se moglo podvesti pod zajednički nazivnik efemerne kulture uglavnom pripada periferiji i ne čini osnovu gradskog rasta. Tkivo gradova se razvija uglavnom kroz planske investicije različitih mjerila koje podliježu urbanističkim regulacijama i raznim administrativnim kontrolnim mehanizmima. Taj razvoj u prvom redu je određen računicom uloženog i dobivenog i teško ga je svrstati u neko od područja graditeljske kulture. Izvore, motivacije i zakonitosti građenja prije treba tražiti u refleksiji novih modela ekonomskog i političkog ponašanja.
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For the first time in history more than half the world’s population live in cities. This demographic fact was anticipated since the whole of modern development has been heading towards an urbanised society and a civilization of cities. The influence which academic architectural culture, the privilege of "extraordinary" places, had on the development of the civilization of cities was limited. On the other hand construction, which could be described as an ephemeral culture, mostly belongs to the periphery and does not make the essence of city development. The growth of the tissue of cities is mainly nourished by planned investments governed by unequal criteria, subject to urban regulations and all kinds of administrative control mechanisms. This kind of development is above all determined by return-on-investment calculations and can hardly be recognized as one of the types of construction culture. Hence, the sources, motivations and paradigms of construction are to be deemed reflections of new models of economic and political conduct.
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