Architecture is both the process and the product of planning, designing, and constructing buildings or any other structures. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural symbols and as works of art. Historical civilizations are often identified with their surviving architectural achievements.
Urbanism is the study of how inhabitants of urban areas, such as towns and cities, interact with the built environment. It is a direct component of disciplines such as urban planning, which is the profession focusing on the physical design and management of urban structures and urban sociology which is the academic field the study of urban life and culture.
Architects and engineers are among the most fortunate of men since they build their own monuments with public consent, public approval and often public money.
The modern age has in most cases failed with the rebuilding of old cities destroyed in the war and shown itself incapable of recreating the complex grain of places which took centuries to evolve. Clearly our modern architectural vocabulary just isn't up to the job.
Dieter Scholzel (architect); reported in Friends of Dresden declarations (2003).