Michelle Komie, publisher for art, architecture, and urban history, has acquired World rights to Vishaan Chakrabarti’s The Architecture of Urbanity: Designing Our Future for Pluralism and Planet, a manifesto for architectural design as an agent for positive change in the face of the most urgent global issues of our time, from ecological sustainability to social justice.
Substantial research and publishing has advocated for the densification of our cities to address vexing issues such as population growth, climate change, gentrification, sustainability, and racial justice. In The Architecture of Urbanity, Vishaan Chakrabarti argues that this advocacy will only succeed if the infrastructure, spaces, and places built in response are heterogenous, responsive to climate and community, and imbued with a sense of belonging and beauty on behalf of diverse populations. Absent this imperative, Chakrabarti argues, people won’t want to live and work in our growing cities, causing the goal of creating a better, fairer, more sustainable built environment to fail.
Why does design matter in the face of these serious global challenges? The Architecture of the Urbanity frames this question by surveying the history of urban architecture and infrastructure, from the earliest Chinese cities and Roman roads to the present day, as cars have created an almost-intractable spatial and social influence. The book then offers readers a range of advocacies and strategic solutions, both general and project-specific. Komie notes, “We are thrilled to be collaborating with Vishaan Chakrabarti, one of the most forward-thinking leaders in architecture and urbanism, on this new book. The Architecture of Urbanity will offer a new vision for the influence of design on sustainability, diversity, beauty, and social advocacy for readers across fields and disciplines.”
The Architecture of Urbanity is scheduled for publication in Spring 2022.
About the Author
Vishaan Chakrabarti, FAIA, is dean of the College of Environmental Design at University of California at Berkeley and founder of the award-winning studio Practice for Architecture and Urbanism (PAU), which is designing the Domino Sugar Refinery and major campus architecture. From 2000–2005 he served as director of the Manhattan office of New York’s Department of City Planning, where he laid the groundwork for the High Line Park, the East River Waterfront, and a major expansion of Columbia University, among other major projects. Chakrabarti is the author of the acclaimed A Country of Cities: A Manifesto for an Urban America (Metropolis Books) and his writing has appeared in the New York Times, Financial Times, and elsewhere. Born in Calcutta, Chakrabarti now lectures widely around the world. You can watch his TED talk on “how we can design timeless cities for our collective future,” here.