How are architecture and economy connected? How are aesthetical values - for instance, the supremacy of abstraction in 20th century culture - connected to economic values? Can ideas of space be explained by changes in the dynamics of economy? And how should we understand, for instance, a capitalist, a socialist, or a globalized concept of space? Using case studies from the 19th century until today, Philip Ursprung highlights architectural history from a new perspective which allows for a better understanding of historical processes - and also, ultimately, current developments.