What is Critical Urbanism?
Urban Research as Pedagogy
Park Books
2021 Edition
Author/Editor: Cupers, Kenny; Oldfield, Sophie; Herz, Manuel; Nkula-Wenz, Laura; Distretti, Emilio
Urbanism as pedagogical concept of practice. How, as urbanists, do we learn from the past, from our own models of practice, from collaborations and confrontations, and from the creativity of urban life?
The rapid change in our embattled environment, especially in metropolitan areas, demands a high degree of interdisciplinary specialist knowledge from city planners, urban researchers, local politicians, and activists. In practice, however, they find themselves increasingly confronted with the chaotic and often contradictory realities of urban life. How can one productively and creatively handle this globally networked yet also radically fragmented, and increasingly unequal, urban world?
By understanding urbanism as a pedagogical concept of practice, renowned researchers and lecturers on the Critical Urbanism MA program at the University of Basel present innovative approaches to understanding the city in the 21st century. Their contributions offer assistance in gaining a differentiated view of the urban cosmos today and of how to arrive at designs that meet the manifold demands. They also cast a critical glance at historical injustices that continue to shape the urban present, to derive new forms of engagement with an alternative urban future from this comparison.
