Tradition, Location and Community

Adenrele Awotona recently retired as a professor of Sustainable Urban Development at the University of Massachusetts Boston, USA, where he has been a dean of the College of Public and Community Service as well as the Director of the Center for Rebuilding Sustainable Communities after Disasters.

He was previously a Director of Studies for the British Council International Seminars (Reconstruction after disasters) in the United Kingdom. During his career, he served as an academic administrator (Dean, Associate Dean, Director of Graduate Studies, Director of Research Centers, and Chair of Departments), university professor, researcher, and practitioner. He earned his Doctorate degree from the University of Cambridge, UK, and a Certificate from Harvard University's Institute of Management and Leadership in Education in the USA.

He now lives in Cambridgeshire in the United Kingdom.

Professor Necdet Teymur (1945-2017) studied architecture, design and social theory; and taught and researched at universities in UK and elsewhere on architectural theory, design and education - with housing as one of the primary focus. He was the course director of Postgraduate Course in International Architectural Practice (1990-94) and the director of the Centre for International Architectural Studies (1991-94) at the School of Architecture, Manchester University (1990-94); and the Dean of Faculty of Architecture at Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey (1997-2000).

Necdet Teymur was the author and editor of numerous books, papers and articles on architecture, the environment, housing, design, theory, history and education. His first major book Environmental Discourse won the First Prize and Gold Medal at the II. World Biennale of Architecture in 1983. He was an active member of UIA, IAPS and DRS, editor of Design Research (1982-87) and Bulletin of People-Environment Studies (1995-98) as well as Associate Editor of Journal of Architecture and Planning Research, Environments by Design and Datutop.