The architect, historian and critic Peter Blundell Jones (1949–2016) considered architecture as an expansive field within the arts and humanities and social sciences that included landscape and urban studies. His focus within this built environment was firmly on people and place, which to him meant developing a comprehension of the broad human, material and social engagements with specific localities.

His favourite way to explore this human and environmental focus was through case studies of individual places, leading to a modus operandi to tackle the study of any place in a generous, rigorous and comprehensive manner that used the skills of related professions, of the sciences as well as of psychology and anthropology. Being able to adopt such interdisciplinarity determined the real value of his output, which was further enriched through the thick interpretation of placemaking in non-Western cultures.

This book, celebrating the East-West Studies in Architecture and Landscape at the University of Sheffield co-founded by Peter Blundell Jones in 1995, presents 16 distinctive case studies in order to underline the relevance of his case study methodology and global legacy. It is intended to have relevance for a range of disciplines including the design ones of architecture, landscape and urban design and planning, as well as anthropology, history, geography and cultural studies.