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West of here, your sun sets, hours after my own. The hues may be just as vivid, the stretching rays just as sharp. But, mine sets here, and yours sets there.

It’s the only sun I ever see set–and there it is, every night, now over the western fields of the English Midlands and the prickly spires of Oxford’s cathedrals. Certainly, you watched your sun set over a different landscape, but as the wisdom of Wikipedia or Webster’s would tell us, your setting sun and mine are one in the same, whether in Wales or Wichita. If this blockbuster of understanding among humans and nature was resolved hundreds of years ago, surely commonality in understanding our relationship with the environment has progressed by now.

Yet, if one takes a moment to explore the words of urban theorists, architects, environmentalists, designers, novices and experts–whether in blogs or books, in person or press–they will likely find little agreement on fact or fashion. Through spectacular tools and forums, we are offered a field of occupied soapboxes before which to stand. Most will offer a voice of logic, even clarity. Some will stand higher on the footstools of reason, others on science, still others on hearsay. Many will bellow through the megaphones of zeal.

A young Roger Waters whispered, in 1982, “…I can barely define the shape of this moment in time.” No more than he, can I truly define the moment shaping our time. I can be almost certain that as many brains as there are voices, believe in the undeniable force they profess must be reckoned with, and with an equally undeniable prescription. Equal opportunity for communication of belief as fact results in a confusing mix of imperatives which we hear every day and are forced to sort out for ourselves.

We are, however, equipped to navigate this onslaught–with critical thinking skills, iterative design processes and a dose of brash individualism that most of us designers wear as a badge. These traits will serve us well in recognizing that the answers often cannot be found in the rhetoric of a particular movement. Even when only in words, it will shape thought, shape design and for these reasons we must understand and review for ourselves the rhetoric we are fed, whether its driving moment is real or perceived.

I hope you find in these pages much you passionately agree with, more you passionately disagree with, and a sampling of truth throughout. Our friends, leaders and even a few honored guests, including Blair Kamin, renowned Architecture Critic for The Chicago Tribune, have taken a moment to critically review some of the credible and incredible voices we hear each day as students of–and believers in–design. When shared, their insight and yours will help us each put our critical thinking skills to practice a bit more often.

Jacob Day
Editor-in-Chief
E crit@aias.org