Is a theory of the built environment needed?

Theory plays an important role in several fields of inquiry, in scholarly activities as well as informing public policy, providing clarity in purpose and enabling a more general understanding by society. They can be seen as mediating artifacts that not only facilitate communication and conversation inside each discipline or researcher community, but also are instrumental in bridging between different domains. The primary functions of a theory are prediction and explanation. Theories facilitate teaching and learning, and provide a language for professional communication. Knowledge should be cultivated from all angles, episteme, techne and phronesis from the point of view of the built environment. Built environment professionals need to foresee social outcomes from decisions about the physical and spatial form of the built environments.