Princeton University Press, 2024.
With the majority of the planet’s population now living in urban environments, cities are the spaces where we have the greatest potential to confront the unsettling problems of climate change, population growth, political division, technological dislocation, and fraying cultural fabric. Addressing these challenges in his new book The Architecture of Urbanity (Princeton University Press, 2024) architect Vishaan Chakrabarti asks, how can housing design be part of the solution to our global problems rather than exacerbate our existing challenges? He argues that “connective design”— a conscious attempt by a designer to forge deeper bonds across society at every scale—can help heal some of our larger social issues such as global warming, social and racial division, the geography of rising fascism, and land-use battles.
Taking readers from the great cities of antiquity to the worldwide exurban sprawl of our postindustrial age, Chakrabarti examines architecture’s relationship to history’s greatest social, technological, and environmental dilemmas and presents a rich selection of contemporary work by an array of architects from around the world, demonstrating how innovative design can dramatically improve life in big cities and small settlements around the world, from campuses and refugee camps to mega-cities like São Paulo, Lima, Los Angeles, New York, Paris, and Tokyo.
Vishaan Chakrabarti
Vishaan Chakrabarti is an architect and the founder of Practice for Architecture and Urbanism (PAU), a New York-based design studio dedicated to building ecological, equitable, and joyous communities. As creative director, he has led PAU’s growing portfolio of cultural, institutional, infrastructure, urban planning, and public space projects, including Brooklyn’s Domino Sugar Refinery, Cleveland's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Princeton's Hobson College, New York’s Pennsylvania Station, and Philadelphia’s Schuylkill Yards. As a former Manhattan NYC DCP Planning Director under Mayor Bloomberg, he helped to save the High Line, extend the #7 subway line, advance Moynihan Station, and rebuild the East River Waterfront. He taught at Columbia GSAPP for more than a decade and served as the Dean of the College of Environmental Design at UC Berkeley. Chakrabarti is also the author of A Country of Cities: A Manifesto for an Urban America (Metropolis Books, 2013) and speaks and is interviewed widely on the need to design cities to foster flourishing communities.
The video begins with a brief introduction by Museum director Carol Willis, followed by Vishaan Chakrabarti's presentation. A short Q&A with the audience concludes the program.