Architecture is never autonomous. When you look at it more closely, the extent to which it is determined and influenced by external conditions becomes apparent. These conditions interact and combine with one another and thus define the space in which architects operate in producing their designs. In architectural discourse, this plays a subordinate role-architecture is viewed, first and foremost, in terms of its perceived autonomy. This book sheds light on the power of these conditions, which inform architecture and shape the built environment. Their productive involvement in the design process requires a precise understanding of their mechanisms. Dealing with them consciously can help to make architecture more comprehensible as an activity that is rationally embedded in society. Benedikt Boucsein, architect and urban planner, is a partner at BHSF Architekten and Director of the Chair of Urban Design at the Technical University of Munich (TUM). Elettra Carnelli is an architect and researcher and is currently doing her doctorate at the ZHAW Zurich University of Applied Sciences and ETH Zurich. Daniel Zwangsleitner, architect and spatial planner, is a professor of multidisciplinary design at the University of Utah.