Is social value so culturally specific that it has to be framed in entirely different ways for different cultures or is there enough that we humans have in common to suggest that there are certain eternal or archetypal forms of social value that can be evaluated and developed wherever we are? These questions need to be pondered by architectural practices working in countries in receipt of Official Development Assistance (ODA).

Peter Oborn has been doing a remarkable job at the RIBA promoting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and an ethical approach to professionalism. However architects are often employed by less than savoury regimes as, what Deyan Sudjic calls, “instruments of statecraft”.

…