"Cities that score well barely qualify as cities"
Opinion: increasingly popular lists that judge cities on "liveability" and "quality of life" are dangerous for the future development of our metropoles, says Sam Jacob. More
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"Experience a version of history without the homework"
Opinion: Dubrovnik, with its Game of Thrones-buoyed tourism industry, is a historical drag act that exposes conflicting tensions between history, reconstruction and modernity, says Sam Jacob. More
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British pavilion is "a call to arms for contemporary architecture"
Venice Architecture Biennale 2014: British pavilion curator and Dezeen columnist Sam Jacob says his exhibition aims to revive the "imaginative visions and entrepreneurial spirit" of postwar public housing projects in Britain (+ movie). More
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FAT bring together postwar towns and pop culture for British Pavilion in Venice
Venice Architecture Biennale 2014: the British pavilion at the biennale charts the nation's Modernism using a fluorescent pink mound of earth, a galloping horse made from LEDs, imagery of social housing and a pair of concrete model cows (+ slideshow). More
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"Marketing, architecture and development can be an incredibly powerful combination"
Opinion: show flats for residential developments don't just tell us about a developer's dream demographic – they have the potential to turn a sales fantasy into part of the city's built fabric, says Sam Jacob. More
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"We've got 99 problems but architecture ain't one"
Opinion: a campaign to protect London's skyline and the UK government's first review into the state of architecture both point to the same thing: Britain's approach to building is broken, says Sam Jacob. More
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"National Parks are synthesised products of urbanisation"
Opinion: in this latest column Sam Jacob asks whether air fresheners boasting scents from the UK's National Parks are "surreal and distasteful" or a logical extension of the countryside as a product of modern urban life. More
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"Alongside every dream home is its nightmare twin"
Opinion: fiction is essential reading for architects because it explores ideas about homes and buildings that are "normally repressed," argues Sam Jacob in this latest column. More
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"These flip flops are politics disguised as leisurewear"
Opinion: in this week's column, Sam Jacob investigates how flip flops from a street market have taken their place alongside placards and banners as objects of protest in the recent Bangkok election demonstrations. More
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"Architecture might have to become less architectural"
Opinion: in his latest column, Sam Jacob argues that architects "might have to learn from communications agencies, advertising and design" in order to regain the social significance they once enjoyed. More
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"Christmas decorations are winter as skeuomorphism"
Opinion: Sam Jacob argues that as climate change pushes the reality of winter further from the idealised version that appears in Christmas decorations, they begin to represent "a hangover of a vanishing idea remade through other technologies." More
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"It's time to refigure the design problem of the London street"
Opinion: as a sixth cyclist dies in London in two weeks, Sam Jacob argues that roads should be designed "in a way that incorporates intelligence as well as brute engineering" and asks:" "Who is the city for?" More
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"The history of human culture is written not in text but in objects"
Opinion: in his latest Opinion column, Sam Jacob argues that objects tell us more about ourselves than literature or imagery and sets out his manifesto for "a culture of design informed by archeology and anthropology". More
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"The digital is a lens through which we can view the entire history of design"
Opinion: in his latest column, Sam Jacob argues that hyper-realistic environments created by digital games like The Room give us a new perspective on the history of design. More
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"The beach is part of the same landscape as the city"
Opinion: after returning from a two-week break, Sam Jacob reflects on the phenomenon of the modern beach holiday and argues that it is just as artificial as everyday working life in the city. More
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"We are surrounded by zombie architecture"
Opinion: Sam Jacob argues against the resurrection of Crystal Palace in London and urges us to "resist the pull of loss and nostalgia". More
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"Protest by way of marketing prevents us achieving anything"
Opinion: in this week's column Sam Jacob argues against what he calls PRotest, proposing that new forms of outcry through marketing and the media are confusing and "only make us more alienated". More
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"Cute nostalgia sits strangely with Brutalism"
Opinion: Sam Jacob ponders the paradox of solid, concrete Brutalist architecture printed onto soft furnishings in this week's column. More
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"Cities are being redrawn according to Google's world view"
Opinion: in the second of two columns exploring the impact of digital culture on design, Sam Jacob looks at how Google Maps is reshaping cities while Apple, Facebook and Amazon are reshaping the natural landscape by building their own headquarters as self-contained ecosystems. More
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"Prism is the dark side of design thinking"
Opinion: in the first of two columns about the impact of digital culture on design, Sam Jacob asks what America's Prism surveillance program tells us about design thinking. More