What Is Critical Urbanism?: Urban Research as Pedagogy - Paperback

by Kenny Cupers (Editor), Sophie Oldfield (Editor), Manuel Herz (Editor)

A methodological and pedagogical toolkit for urban research.

Understanding and managing urban change in our global era demands a high degree of specialized and interdisciplinary knowledge. At the same time, city planners, architects, researchers, policymakers, and activists are deeply immersed in the chaotic and often contradictory urban realities that they are asked to address. What is Critical Urbanism? offers an innovative toolkit for engaging these present realities across disciplinary specializations and geographic purviews.

Central to the book is the research and pedagogy of the Critical Urbanisms program at the University of Basel, established in collaboration with the African Centre for Cities at the University of Cape Town. The program's renowned and emerging urbanists demonstrate the power of working with care and reciprocity across different contexts and institutions, driven by engagement with varied communities of practice. They show how alternative urban futures can be imagined by addressing the historical injustices and global entanglements that shape the urban present. The book is tailored to students, graduates, and teachers of urban studies and related disciplines including architecture, urban design, human geography, architectural history, and urban anthropology.

Author Biography

Kenny Cupers is professor of architecture history and urbanism at the University of Basel. Sophie Oldfield is professor at and chair of the Department of City and Regional Planning in the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning at Cornell University, and a lecturer at the University of Cape Town's African Center for Cities. Manuel Herz is an architect and served as assistant professor of Architectural, Urban, and Territorial Planning at the University of Basel 2016-20. Laura Nkula-Wenz is a lecturer in the critical urbanisms MA Program at the University of Basel and in the African Centre for Cities at the University of Cape Town. Emilio Distretti works as a postdoctoral fellow in architecture history and urbanism at the University of Basel. Myriam Perret is an architect who previously worked in the critical urbanisms MA Program at the University of Basel.