Examples are cited to support the argument that structures and spaces, especially public buildings and spaces, establish and reaffirm hierarchies of values for society. These buildings and spaces define both goals and people as important or as expendable, and win support for the values of those groups that are already powerful. (JMD)

Public buildings and the settings in which people work and live significantly influence acceptance of social inequalities, social roles, and definitions of individual competence, merit, and power. Spaces do not convey meanings as if they were simple codes, but rather objectify whatever shared meanings a group of people need to reinforce in one…