2.2 Methodologies and Frameworks
Foundational Framework
The ten contextual layers, the relations between them and the scales at which context is read. Select a layer in the diagram to see its terms, its questions and its relations.
In this section2 · Methodologies and Frameworks
The framework rests on ‘a tenfold overlapping analysis’ of context (Reza 2025), applied across scales from the site to the world. Its layers and their terms are from the founder’s writing; the relations between them are an editorial interpretation, marked as such.
Applying the Ten Contextual Layers
The ten layers are applied together, not in turn. The analysis ‘ensures that design interventions are not simplistic or unidimensional’, and ‘prevents the imposition of predetermined solutions and fosters locally attuned responses’ (Reza 2025). In the September 2025 formulation, ‘not every layer carries equal weight each time, but together they ensure a fuller picture’ (Reza and Nitu 2025).
The published case studies show how the weighting varies. One thesis foregrounded spiritual, historical, cultural and social layers; another prioritised ‘ecological, social, political, and urban layers’, demonstrating ‘how the tenfold reading adapts: one thesis may begin with spiritual and cultural roots, another with ecology, urban, and governance, yet both arrive at a design that belongs’ (Reza and Nitu 2025).
- 01 Social community structures, demographics, lifestyles Related most directly to Economic, Political, Historical, Cultural, Urban.
- 02 Cultural traditions, beliefs, aesthetics, rituals Related most directly to Social, Economic, Historical, Geographical, Architectural.
- 03 Historical layers of development, memory, significance Related most directly to Social, Political, Scientific, Geographical, Cultural, Urban, Architectural.
- 04 Political governance, patronage, regulations Related most directly to Social, Economic, Historical, Ecological, Urban.
- 05 Economic livelihoods, industries, affordability Related most directly to Social, Political, Cultural, Urban.
- 06 Ecological climate, topography, biodiversity, resources Related most directly to Political, Scientific, Geographical, Urban, Architectural.
- 07 Geographical location, connectivity, regional influences Related most directly to Historical, Ecological, Cultural, Urban.
- 08 Scientific material properties, technological possibilities Related most directly to Historical, Ecological, Urban, Architectural.
- 09 Urban density, infrastructure, public space Related most directly to Social, Economic, Political, Historical, Ecological, Scientific, Geographical, Architectural.
- 10 Architectural typologies, styles, precedents Related most directly to Historical, Ecological, Scientific, Cultural, Urban.
Relationships Between the Layers
The published texts describe the layers as overlapping, but they do not specify how each relates to the others. The relations recorded here are proposed by the editors as the most direct; several are illustrated by examples from the published record. Every layer relates to every other in some way; the diagram and the matrix mark only the most direct relations.
01 / 10 · Layer
Social
Who a place is for — its communities, people and ways of life.
In the founder’s terms community structures, demographics, lifestyles (Reza 2025)
Questions it asks · editorial
- Who uses this place today, and who has been excluded or displaced from it?
- Which forms of collective life does the existing fabric make possible?
Relations · editorial interpretation
Read the definition → 7 archive records · 7 projects
02 / 10 · Layer
Cultural
How a place carries meaning — traditions, beliefs, aesthetics and rituals.
In the founder’s terms traditions, beliefs, aesthetics, rituals (Reza 2025)
Questions it asks · editorial
- Which traditions, rituals and beliefs give this place meaning?
- Whose culture is represented in its existing forms, and whose is missing?
Relations · editorial interpretation
Read the definition → 13 archive records · 7 projects
03 / 10 · Layer
Historical
What a place remembers — its layers of development, memory and significance.
In the founder’s terms layers of development, memory, significance (Reza 2025)
Questions it asks · editorial
- Which layers of development are legible on this site, and which have been erased?
- What does the place mean to those who remember it?
Relations · editorial interpretation
Read the definition → 14 archive records · 4 projects
04 / 10 · Layer
Political
Who decides — the governance, patronage and rules that shape a place.
In the founder’s terms governance, patronage, regulations (Reza 2025)
Questions it asks · editorial
- Who has authority over this site, and through which instruments?
- Whose interests have shaped the brief, and whose are absent from it?
Relations · editorial interpretation
Read the definition → 4 archive records · 2 projects
05 / 10 · Layer
Economic
How a place sustains life — through work, exchange and affordability.
In the founder’s terms livelihoods, industries, affordability (Reza 2025)
Questions it asks · editorial
- Which livelihoods depend on this place, formally and informally?
- Who captures the value created by change, and who bears its costs?
Relations · editorial interpretation
Read the definition → 5 archive records · 4 projects
06 / 10 · Layer
Ecological
What a place depends on — climate, terrain, living systems and resources.
In the founder’s terms climate, topography, biodiversity, resources (Reza 2025)
Questions it asks · editorial
- How do water, climate and terrain shape this site across seasons and years?
- Which ecological systems would the project disturb, and which could it restore?
Relations · editorial interpretation
Read the definition → 7 archive records · 4 projects
07 / 10 · Layer
Geographical
Where a place sits — its location, connections and regional influences.
In the founder’s terms location, connectivity, regional influences (Reza 2025)
Questions it asks · editorial
- How is the site connected to its region, and how might those connections change?
- Which regional patterns of settlement, movement and exchange shape it?
Relations · editorial interpretation
Read the definition → 5 archive records · 1 project
08 / 10 · Layer
Scientific
What can be known and built — materials, technologies and tools of analysis.
In the founder’s terms material properties, technological possibilities (Reza 2025)
Questions it asks · editorial
- What do the properties of local materials make possible, or impossible?
- Which technologies are appropriate here, and who will maintain them?
Relations · editorial interpretation
Read the definition → 4 archive records · 2 projects
09 / 10 · Layer
Urban
How places are organised together — density, infrastructure and public space.
In the founder’s terms density, infrastructure, public space (Reza 2025)
Questions it asks · editorial
- How do density and infrastructure distribute opportunity across the city?
- Which public spaces does the site support, threaten or make possible?
Relations · editorial interpretation
Read the definition → 8 archive records · 5 projects
10 / 10 · Layer
Architectural
What has been built before — typologies, styles and precedents.
In the founder’s terms typologies, styles, precedents (Reza 2025)
Questions it asks · editorial
- Which building types and precedents are relevant to this site?
- What did earlier builders here understand that contemporary practice has forgotten?
Relations · editorial interpretation
Read the definition → 10 archive records · 2 projects
Use the arrow keys to move between layers. Selecting a relation in the panel moves to the related layer. The layers and the founder’s terms for each are from Reza 2025; the relations are an editorial interpretation.
| 01 Social | 02 Cultural | 03 Historical | 04 Political | 05 Economic | 06 Ecological | 07 Geographical | 08 Scientific | 09 Urban | 10 Architectural | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 Social | ||||||||||
| 02 Cultural | Cultural and Social: Shared practices, rituals and everyday routines are how communities sustain their culture in space. | |||||||||
| 03 Historical | Historical and Social: Collective memory binds communities to places; losing a place can mean losing part of a shared origin. | Historical and Cultural: Memory and ritual accumulate as layers of meaning; routes between temple and settlement can become the skeleton of new design. | ||||||||
| 04 Political | Political and Social: Governance determines whose needs are recognised and who keeps access to shared space. | No direct relation proposed | Political and Historical: Policy and patronage decide which histories are preserved, and which are allowed to disappear. | |||||||
| 05 Economic | Economic and Social: Livelihoods and affordability decide who can remain in a place, and so whom it is for. | Economic and Cultural: Heritage, craft and ritual can sustain local economies, as pilgrimage and community-based tourism show. | No direct relation proposed | Economic and Political: Patronage and regulation steer where investment flows and what gets built. | ||||||
| 06 Ecological | No direct relation proposed | No direct relation proposed | No direct relation proposed | Ecological and Political: The fate of rivers, canals and wetlands is decided as much by governance as by nature. | No direct relation proposed | |||||
| 07 Geographical | No direct relation proposed | Geographical and Cultural: Regional encounters produce hybrid cultures; Bengal absorbed Vedic, Buddhist, Jain, Islamic and European influences. | Geographical and Historical: Settlement patterns shaped by water and terrain persist across centuries, as the delta's earthen embankments show. | No direct relation proposed | No direct relation proposed | Geographical and Ecological: Climate, topography and water systems set the conditions of settlement, above all in a delta. | ||||
| 08 Scientific | No direct relation proposed | No direct relation proposed | Scientific and Historical: Prediction depends on history: data and models are only as good as our understanding of past patterns. | No direct relation proposed | No direct relation proposed | Scientific and Ecological: Ecosystems are a source of technical knowledge: mangroves dissipate wave energy, termite mounds cool passively. | No direct relation proposed | |||
| 09 Urban | Urban and Social: Streets, courtyards and public spaces can gather people, or keep them apart. | No direct relation proposed | Urban and Historical: Urban fabrics are palimpsests: an old market can hold dense habitation, informal commerce and heritage structures at once. | Urban and Political: Planning rules and infrastructure decisions give the city its form. | Urban and Economic: Land markets and infrastructure investment drive density, sprawl and the loss of shared space. | Urban and Ecological: Urbanisation transforms ecological systems: paved wetlands flood, heat islands intensify, canals are lost to encroachment. | Urban and Geographical: Location and connectivity shape networks of movement; a neglected canal can become a transit route. | Urban and Scientific: Data analytics and scenario planning help anticipate how cities and their needs will change. | ||
| 10 Architectural | No direct relation proposed | Architectural and Cultural: Beliefs and rituals inform spatial organisation; in one thesis, non-dualism shaped interwoven courts. | Architectural and Historical: Precedent carries knowledge forward; hybrid forms record encounters between building traditions. | No direct relation proposed | No direct relation proposed | Architectural and Ecological: Climate shapes form: semi-open transitional spaces, louvres and jalis temper heat and humidity. | No direct relation proposed | Architectural and Scientific: Material properties set the limits and possibilities of form, from terracotta to contemporary engineering. | Architectural and Urban: Every building becomes part of an existing fabric; typology mediates between the building and the city. |
Interpretation Relations proposed by the editors, for review against the founder’s publications
Scales of Context
Context, in the founder’s 2023 essay, ‘starts from the space's universal values, extends to regional ideas aligned with critical regionalism, and encompasses the immediate neighbourhood and site boundaries’, each examined through its past and its developmental trends (Reza 2023c). The September 2025 essay describes context as operating ‘across scales from micro to macro, local to global’ (Reza and Nitu 2025).
Site and Building
The innermost scale, within the site’s boundaries (Reza 2023c). The framework is described as repeatable from building to city (Reza and Nitu 2025); at this scale the architectural layer, with its typologies, styles and precedents, is read most closely (Reza 2025).
Neighbourhood and Urban
The immediate neighbourhood (Reza 2023c) and the urban fabric of which it is part. In the Kallyanpur thesis, ‘at the neighborhood scale, a transit station was designed as the first point of interaction with the canal during daily commutes’ (Reza and Nitu 2025).
Regional
‘Regional ideas aligned with critical regionalism’ (Reza 2023c). The geographical layer includes regional influences (Reza 2025); for the founder, the region is the Bengal delta, with its rivers, monsoon and settlement patterns.
Global
‘The space's universal values’ (Reza 2023c): universal knowledge regarding ‘structural principles, material science, and technological innovation’, embraced but critically adapted to the local (Reza 2025). The approach describes itself as ‘locally rooted, globally aware, and future-ready’ (Reza and Nitu 2025).
Contextual Analysis and Interpretation
Reading comes first: ‘Before form or function, it is necessary to understand the context’ (Reza and Nitu 2025). The analysis looks backwards in order to look forwards. It ‘examines a context's past and developmental trends. By following these trends, it identifies future needs and aspirations to guide forward-thinking design’ (Reza 2023c). Understanding these trends, the founder writes, ‘allows for an accurate projection of future aspirations, which often differs from general perceptions’ (Reza 2023c).
The published texts do not yet describe how the readings of the ten layers are combined into a single interpretation, or how they are recorded. An editorial template for recording a reading layer by layer is offered under Tools and Resources; it is not an instrument issued by the founder.
Sources
New Contextualism
- Reza 2023cReza, Mohammad Habib. 2023c. “New contextualism: A path to a sustainable and equitable future.” The Business Standard, December 19, 2023. https://www.tbsnews.net/features/habitat/new-contextualism-path-sustainable-and-equitable-future-760366. Record
- Reza 2025Reza, Mohammad Habib. 2025. “New Contextualism: An architectural philosophy for deltaic Bangladesh.” The Daily Star, April 23, 2025. https://www.thedailystar.net/opinion/focus/news/new-contextualism-architectural-philosophy-deltaic-bangladesh-3878456. Record
- Reza and Nitu 2025Reza, Mohammad Habib, and Upama Das Nitu. 2025. “New Contextualism: Architecture and Urbanism for People, Place, and Justice.” Context BD, September 16, 2025. https://contextbd.com/new-contextualism-architecture-and-urbanism-for-people-place-and-justice/. Record