Painting cityscapes

• Mark C. Childs ^[1]
  1. [1] University of New Mexico

     University of New Mexico

     Estados Unidos

     
• Localización: Journal of urban design, ISSN 1357-4809, ISSN-e 1469-9664, Nº. 30, 6, 2025, págs. 704-708
• Idioma: inglés
• Enlaces
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• Resumen

  • The initial contention of Cuthbert and Suartika’s argument – ‘ideology must be included for a complete and encompassing theoretical engagement’ of urban design – is, I believe, fruitful (658). We live amidst clouds of water vapour and in our conceptions of fogginess. Understanding the sets of social/political/cultural motivations that have shaped and may shape the composition of places is essential to theorizing about what we mean by ‘urban design’ and how we may compose good urban form. A robust theory that addresses multiple ways of knowing – scientific proof, craft knowledge and ethical judgement – could indeed be fruitful. We need reasoned, instructive and reasonable theory.

    The goal of the paper – ‘to promote the evolution of a New Urban Design’ (659) grounded in spatial political economy – is germane both to the last 75 years and potentially to the longue durée. As drivers of change towards cyberpunk techno-feudalism and panopticon (pan-sensor?) urbanism gather force, climate change reshapes landscapes and new patterns of urban and extended urban fields arise (see Brenner and Schmid Citation2015), those who aim to shape urban form (hereafter urban designers) need to understand both a panoply of specific local contexts and, to use Brenner and Schmid’s eloquent term, the ‘context of the contexts’ (Citation2015, 161).

    In the spirit that ‘the mainstream [of urban design theory] simply needs enhanced critical self-reflection as to its premises’, the following are suggestions of areas for elaboration and emphasis (659).