This edited collection, Societies under Construction: Geographies, Sociologies and Histories of Building, explores the often-overlooked realm of building construction as a critical site for understanding the development of human societies. Edited by Daniel J. Sage, this 284-page volume challenges traditional engineering and management perspectives, offering a broad scope that encompasses various empirical and theoretical contexts.

The book features seven chapters that delve into diverse aspects such as spatiotemporal organization on building sites, institutional change through the lens of building ruins, home in Mexican self-help housing projects, place and suburban housing developments, socio-materiality in university library adaptations, migrant labor during the Parisian postwar construction boom, and gender dynamics within a female site manager’s role in Sweden.

By bringing together scholars from various research communities, this book aims to develop a new critical sub-area for construction studies. It seeks to challenge the marginalization of building practices relative to architectural studies while providing novel insights into human history, geography, and sociology.