Michael P. Moynihan

Land, Space, and Identity in the Americas Fellow

Systems Will Prevail: Global Housing and the Decline of the Professional Architect

Book Project

The idea for this book, Systems Will Prevail, came out my dissertation research at Cornell University, which looked at an important moment in the 1970s for understanding how development policies would transform architectural practice and education in the second half of the 20th century. I looked specifically at the period after the oil crisis in 1973 and before the debt crisis in 1982, when a massive increase in transnational lending allowed international policymakers to recommend housing as a key tool for economic development and managing rural-urban migration. One might expect that architects would have played a central role in these projects and discussions, yet they were largely excluded. Paradoxically, what I found was that by the late 1970s, despite this new investment on housing at a global scale, a quarter of the world’s architects were unemployed. I argue, this massive unemployment signaled a larger decline in the profession because expertise in housing shifted away from architects and toward economists, consultants, and development experts who prioritized data analysis and economic growth over design.

In the book project, instead of just telling a story about how architects were sidelined, I show examples of how some architects working in national housing ministries recognized this shift was happening and adapted by embracing data and information science. Through three interrelated examples, in Mexico, Argentina, and at UNESCO, I show how architects took on managerial roles and hired teams of sociologists, computer scientists, and data analysts to make the case for the importance of their own expertise. The book also highlights broader transformations in architectural practice and education, the growing influence of international organizations, and the emergence of data and information sciences as instruments of soft power in global development.