Institutions and the City. Preface

Instituting poses the question of the organization of human relations in extended groups. Émile Durkheim defined an institution as a set of practices, rituals and rules of conduct that are shared and understood by these groups and that map out their daily lives and ensure the coherence of the community. The sociologist went on to include in this definition the set of representations that concern these practices, define their meaning and tend to justify their existence. This is the case for the state, the Church, the army, justice, education, family and marriage, among others. These are all institutions that guide our actions, govern our human relations and regulate our societies. The weight of an institution depends on the extent to which the social body as a whole understands its codes. Institutions are not fixed but evolve with history. Although objectified by a series of rules, inscribed in places or activated by rites inherited from the past, they are in a state of perpetual transformation and therefore make complex entities. Many human civilizations attest to the reciprocal links between the spaces, objects and thought systems of the society that produced them. Architecture is regularly called upon to establish, identify or perpetuate the codes of institutions. It is not socially neutral. It is never an empty shell devoid of intentions. On the contrary, architecture conditions, coordinates, proposes and supports relations between individuals. This means it plays a key role in the establishment of human relations and underlines the importance of built spaces and, by extension, of the city