Following forA issue #0, which sought to open up the wider field of the urban in order to provide initial orientation, thinking, and material, issue #1 is dedicated to the subject of friction—concrete and tangible phenomena that can be localized to distinct coordinates around the globe. As diverse or similar as these sites may appear in aerial imagery, so too are the particular narratives of frictions to which they relate, identify, give rise, or, likewise, remain hidden, unnoticed, or occluded.

This compilation brings together projects, views, positions, and perspectives from a diverse range of voices—architects, urbanists, designers, visual and performing artists, curators, political activists, critics, and theorists—from a variety of backgrounds and locales. Every contribution collected is discrete in terms of its angle of approach, the friction(s) it addresses, and the material through which it speaks. At the same time, common threads interweave the ideas explored in multiple ways throughout the works, suggesting that the more specific the challenge, subject, place, or perspective, the more commonalities it can hold.

While each contribution stands on its own—reflecting particular circumstances, situations, dilemmas, engagements, observations, or thoughts—together they add up to a kaleidoscopic view of spatial frictions that have resulted in imbalances, exclusions, or negotiations, as much as identity construction, economic booms, or the emergence of multiplicity, plurality, and co-existence.

Purchase forA issue #1 here: https://birkhauser.com/books/9783035628517