From Mass Customisation to Design 'Democratisation'

Centuries of capitalism and democracy in North America have led to a landscape that can be characterised by an unrelenting normalcy and uniformity, whether it is rows of family houses behind picket fences in suburbia or clusters of glazed towers in downtown districts. Here, Branko Kolarevic, Professor and Chair in Integrated Design at the University of Calgary Faculty of Environmental Design, questions why at a time that the production of consumer goods has been revolutionised by mass customisation, buildings and cities have remained largely resistant to its forces.