The text aims to re-understand the relationships we have with the spaces we inhabit, from a perspective that contrasts ways of interpreting what surrounds us depending on the social and cultural background. In other words, Jill Stoner dismantles the myths that have underpinned architectural thinking throughout the 20th century, but what happens when relationships with architecture are not based on Western hegemony?

How three factors or myths - the importance of the ground, the dichotomy of firmness-fragility and order in our daily lives - lead us to judge and understand the spaces we come across differently.

The proposed essay sweeps from the consolidated neighbourhoods, which are part of the city, to the periphery of the city, the countryside, the coast and the phenomena that consequently alter the presence of such myths. How through these factors are the ways of inhabiting development and what is considered under-development?