Allen G. Noble is Distinguished Emeritus Professor at the University of Akron, Ohio, USA, where he was formerly Professor of Geography and Planning. His books include Wood, Brick and Stone: the North American Settlement Landscape (1984), nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, Barns of the Midwest (with H. G. Wilhelm, 1995), and Traditional Buildings: A Global Survey of Structural Forms and Cultural Functions (I.B.Tauris, 2007)