ON THE URBAN
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ISSUE #0 ANNOTATIONS
Peter Wilson
21 Jul 2022
(5min)
()

A box is a blob with corners. It is typologically a close relative to a building (even when the comparison might be derogative), both have robust exteriors and a tendency to dark mysterious interiors. But buildings do not arrive unexpectedly in the post with a return to sender request, as this one did.

ISSUE #0 ANNOTATIONS
Hannes Stiefel
21 Sep 2022
(3min)
()
CALLING FOR FRICTIONS, TOWARDS ISSUE #1
forA editors
27 May 2022
(2min)
(1)

Following forA on the Urban issue #0, the forthcoming issue continues the investigation of the main ideas of our manifesto—examining the open, unfinished, multi-scaled, interconnected, complex, and wild nature of urban manifestations, challenges, and situations through an expanded notion of architecture. With this in mind, we are asking for spatial frictions that result in extremes, imbalances, exclusions, or negotiations, but also identity construction, productive tensions, economic booms, or the emergence of multiplicity, plurality, and co-existence.

ISSUE #0 ANNOTATIONS
Lionel Manga
6 Jul 2022
(3min)
()
SAVE THE DATE
LAUNCH OF FORA ON THE URBAN ISSUE #0 AND FORUM #2
With Bijoy Jain, Elke Krasny, and Sanford Kwinter
30 Apr 2022
(2min)
()

On April 30, join forA editors alongside Bijoy Jain, Elke Krasny, and Sanford Kwinter in Vienna for Forum #2, a conversation that will draw on contributions related to forA Issue #0 while seeking to address pressing issues that center around notions of friction with regard to our present moment.

A HYBRID DISCOURSE FOR LATIN AMERICA’S URBAN LANDSCAPE
by Elisa Silva
3 Dec 2021
(19min)
(FIG. 2)
Escalators and public spaces of the Barrio Independencia, Comuna 13
FORA ON THE URBAN
ISSUE #0 LAUNCH AND CONVERSATION
Lesley Lokko, John McMorrough, and Liam Young
7 Feb 2022
(15min)
(19)

If I had a dollar for every time somebody in my career, both as a student and as an educator, said to me, “Is that architecture?” I could have retired 25 years ago, very rich. From the get-go there’s been an obsession about what is and what isn’t architecture. That obsession, I think, has really curtailed the tools we use.

IT IS URBAN TO ARGUE
by Jimenez Lai
9 Nov 2021
elder-care, agency, conversation, communication, institutionalization
(4min)
(FIG. 1)
Drawings: Jimenez Lai, 2021.
THE REPRESENTATION OF URBAN WOMEN AND POLITICS OF PLACE-MAKING: A CASE STUDY OF SHANGHAI MARRIAGE MARKET
by Yimeng Yang
3 Dec 2021
(17min)
(FIG. 2)
Screenshot from SK-2 commercial.
FORA QUESTIONNAIRE
ALL CITIES CONTAIN “OTHERS”
by Lesley Lokko
9 Nov 2021
questionnaire
(6min)
(PAR. 6)

Writing, drawing, speaking, performing, listening… the means of communication and representation are one and the same. How we draw/think/make/see is profoundly tied to what we draw/think/make and see: can we draw differently? Can we teach ourselves to see differently?

UNBOXING FORA
by The editors
19 Jan 2022
(6min)
(FIG. 1)
forA Issue #0
FORA QUESTIONNAIRE
URBANISM AND POLYPHONY
by Sanford Kwinter
8 Nov 2021
questionnaire
(11min)
(PAR. 10)

Unlike most environmental “solutions,” E. O. Wilson’s principle of Half-Earth is simple (conceptually), sound (scientifically), and workable (practically and politically), and is, in its plainness, nothing more or less than an urbanist concept engendered by a life (and evolution) scientist. In other words, it is a (new) wedding of the social (economic and industrial) and the biological (ecological) into a radical geography that invokes neither pain nor great surprise.

MICROCITIES: THE CULTURE OF CITIES REVISITED
by Stan Allen
3 Dec 2021
(20min)
(FIG. 2)
Chongqing, China, 2016, Ming Chen.
REFRACTED READING OF PRACTICES: BLACK LIVES MATTER MURAL/PLAZA, WASHINGTON D.C.
by Liu Yunsong
9 Nov 2021
black lives matter, george floyd, reading practices, white house
(4min)
(FIG. 2)
Visual Novel of the Tension of the BLM Mural/Plaza
PLASTIC MAN: ACTS AGAINST NATURE
by Ross Mclean, Yulia Kovanova, Patrick James Errington
3 Dec 2021
(18min)
(FIG. 2)
‘Plastic Man,’ 2017, Film still, Tyninghame Estuary, Scotland.
PARANOID BOUNDARIES: ON 5G, COVID AND OUR EXPANDED SELVES
by Curtis Roth
3 Dec 2021
(18min)
(FIG. 2)
A micro 5G tower (height: 15 m, range: 300 m). Illustration: Curtis Roth.
FORA QUESTIONNAIRE
A CITY FOR ALL
by Philippe Rekacewicz
9 Nov 2021
questionnaire
(11min)
(PAR. 17)

In a capitalist world in which power has conscientiously monopolized almost all responsibilities and goods, considerably fragmenting and dismantling civil society, it is now time to rehabilitate the community as a responsible, strong, well-organized body, able to give a powerful response focused on serving the public, to counter the appetites of speculators.

ARCHITECTORIAL ETHNOGRAPHY
by Momoyo Kaijima
9 Nov 2021
architecture, earth
(6min)
(FIG. 1)
(Part 1) ‘Architectural Ethnography version 5,’ 2021, Momyo Jaijima.
FOLLOW THE FALCON
by Emma Jackson
2 Dec 2021
(17min)
(FIG. 2)
Bush fire in the Pilbara, November 2015, Emma Jackson.
VIDEOGAME URBANISM: EMBRACING THE ENTANGLED ARCHITECTURAL SPACES OF GAMES AND GAMING, AND EXPLORING THEIR MEANING FOR THE CITY
by Luke Caspar Pearson, Sandra Youkhana
2 Dec 2021
(15min)
(FIG. 4)
‘Tokyo Backup City,’ 2016, You+Pea. Aerial view of the city masterplan showing various medal game inspired urban structures.
AN ARGUMENT: THE CITY AND ITS BUYERS
by Saskia Sassen
2 Dec 2021
(15min)
(PAR. 19)

A large mixed city is a space where actors from different worlds can have an encounter for which there are no established rules of engagement.

WALK ON THE WILD SIDE: SWEET HOMES IN EMIRATES CITY, AJMAN
by Peter Mörtenböck, Helge Mooshammer
2 Dec 2021
(15min)
(FIG. 5)
CONVENING A NETWORK OF FRIENDS: SOUTHERN RESEARCHERS DURING PANDEMIC TIMES
by AbdouMaliq Simone
2 Dec 2021
(14min)
(PAR. 11)

New institutional architectures will have to emerge in order to address the intensified disjunctions existing among multiple urban territories of operation—between those of capital accumulation and the suturing together of a semblance of livelihoods; between the infrastructural investments needed for the employment generation and the exigencies of sustainability.

PLANET CITY
by Liam Young
2 Dec 2021
(13min)
(FIG. 5)
Still of the Algae Canals from ‘Planet City,’ 2021. Director: Liam Young. VFX Supervisor: Alexey Marfin.
DESIGNS ON THE LAND: ”DECOLONIZATION“ AND THE HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE TO COME
by Andrew Herscher
9 Nov 2021
(14min)
(FIG. 1)
Camp Tamarancho, Marin County, California, December 2020, Andrew Herscher.
PRATOTOWN
by Urbancopyleft*
9 Nov 2021
(12min)
(FIG. 5)
APPARENT VOID
by Diana Agrest, Mario Gandelsonas
9 Nov 2021
(10min)
(PAR. 5)

As urban action is displaced by the virtual realm, the places of public appearance are also transported online, the screen penetrating the physical domestic space, framing and staging it. The ever-changing line that separates the street from the home, the public and private, the actual and the digital was made clear by the lockdown.

VEILS AND ROCKS: SOME NOTES ON DRAWINGS OF THE LAST HALF YEAR OR SO
by Peter Cook
9 Nov 2021
(8min)
(FIG. 1)
‘Filtered City,’ 2021, Peter Cook, Structure and pods.
QUEER POLITICAL ECOLOGIES FOR THE WHITE HOUSE
by Nerea Calvillo
9 Nov 2021
(11min)
(FIG. 1)
Flowers in bloom in the Rose Garden on April 24, 1963. (Robert Knudsen White House Photographs. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston).
POST-PANDEMIC SCENARIOS: THE BARBICAN ESTATE 2050
by Josselyn Moreira
9 Nov 2021
(12min)
(PAR. 1)

It’s Monday 5am and Sean’s alarm rings. He gets ready for his three-kilometer run, a routine which consists of nine laps around the Thomas More Edible Garden on the Barbican Estate. Shower water is only available every two days.

DICTIONARY
by Bijoy Jain
9 Nov 2021
(9min)
(FIG. 1)
THE DIPLOMAT’S GROUNDS
by Barbara Neves Alves
9 Nov 2021
(6min)
(FIG. 2)
Mimes interacting with Bogotá’s traffic and pedestrians. Frames captured from Dalsgaard, ‘Bogotá Change.’ Dalsgaard, Andreas Møl. ‘Bogotá Change.’ 55 minutes. Denmark: NHK, Sundance, Channel, 2009.
FORA QUESTIONNAIRE
A CONGREGATION AROUND POSSIBILITIES
John McMorrough
8 Nov 2021
(4min)
(PAR. 2)

The most exciting urban experiences are those in which the generic and the particular (either as geometry or situation) are contrasted. For example, arriving in a new city by subway if possible, so as to not spoil the surprise.

I REMEMBER WHEN I WAS YOU
by Rebecca Hilton
9 Nov 2021
(10min)
(FIG. 1)
I REMEMBER WHEN I WAS YOU; Conversation keywords: identity, vocation, nature; Date: Thursday, 6 September 2018; Time: 4.15–4.30pm; Site: a corner table by a large window in the dining room on ward 5B
ECOLOGIES OF THE SMALLNESS: AIRBORNE DUST(S) MATTER(S)
by Adam Hudec
9 Nov 2021
(12min)
(FIG. 2)
Eighteen kilograms of Dusts, Adam Hudec for Gallery of Architecture Brno We do not perceive the 18 kilograms of airborne dusts that every human being, on average, inhales in a lifetime. Photography: Jan Urbášek.
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forA on the Urban examines the open, unfinished, multi-scaled, interconnected, complex and wild nature of urban manifestations, challenges and situations through an expanded notion of architecture. It is made possible by Die Angewandte (University of Applied Arts Vienna), and conceptualized and produced by the Institute of Architecture (I oA)


Instagram: @fora_on_the_urban


Edited by
Gerald Bast, Rector, University of Applied Arts Vienna
Andrea Börner, Urban Strategies Department, I oA
Cristina Díaz Moreno, Architectural Design Studio 1, I oA
Efrén García Grinda, Architectural Design Studio 1, I oA
Baerbel Mueller, Applied Foreign Affairs Lab, I oA


Advisory Board
Tom Avermaete, Margitta Buchert, Nerea Calvillo, Mario Carpo, Filip de Boeck, Keller Easterling, Teresa Galí-Izard, Mario Gandelsonas, Andrew Herscher, Sandi Hilal, Nikolaus Hirsch, Elke Krasny, Sanford Kwinter, Lesley Lokko, Mpho Matsipa, John McMorrough, Peter Mörtenböck, Helge Mooshammer, Alessandro Petti, Philippe Rekacewicz, Curtis Roth, Saskia Sassen, Abdoumaliq Simone, Ines Weizman, Liam Young

29 Apr ’22 

forA Issue #0 launch and Forum #2 with Bijoy Jain, Elke Krasny, and Sanford Kwinter, I oA, University of Applied Arts Vienna

25 Jan ’22 

forA on the Urban website launch: Alex Lin (Studio Lin) and Nikolaus Hirsch (CIVA Brussels) in conversation

18 Nov ’21 

Editorial Board meeting to discuss the Annotations project for issue #0

25 Sep ’21 

forA Issue #0 launch and forum #1 with Lesley Lokko, Liam Young, John McMorrough at the 17th Biennale d’Architettura di Venezia

22 Sep ’21 

First copies of forA on the Urban Issue #0 arrive in Vienna

19 Feb ’21 

Advisory Board meeting to discuss Issue #0 content and future events

16 Dec ’20 

First Advisory Board meeting

Dec ’20 

Launch of Open Call for contributions to forA on the Urban Issue #0

10 Nov ’20 

Studio Lin appointed graphic designer

10 Nov ’20 

Formation of the forA on the Urban Advisory Board

Jun ’20 

Editorial Board meeting, and title is selected: forA on the Urban

Apr ’20 

First editorial meeting for an I oA journal on the urban

1

forA on the Urban examines the open, unfinished, multi-scaled, interconnected, complex and wild nature of urban manifestations, challenges and situations through an expanded notion of architecture.

2

Due to the expansive nature and increasing scale of the processes of artificialization and the parallel deterioration of our environment, most of the current demands on our civilizations are, in one way or another, intrinsically linked to the urban condition.

3

Architecture has always had a central role and a responsibility to meet challenges that cause dramatic changes in social life. Architecture will only continue to remain of societal relevance if it is willing to accept its societal responsibility and get in closer working contact with other disciplines, as the global challenges cannot be met through mono-discipline approaches.

4

We need to consider the interrelationships that produce challenges that tend to create situations of irreversible deterioration of the living conditions of our and other species, due to their complex, accelerative, multicausal, irreversible, and entangled nature, all in order to detect, examine, analyse and understand these situations in a way that goes beyond the common frames of reference and available practical tools.

5

Correspondingly, defining the parameters of the urban are crucial to the themes that orient the journal as both process and artefact. Only by destabilizing scalar (disciplinary and methodological) limitations can common practices of analyzing urbanity through isolated categories be challenged.

6

Exploring the formats of discursive essays, investigations and projects incites reflection and discussion towards an experimental multilogue and valuable contribution to the discourse around the urban. Embracing the notions of treatise, disquisition, and literary and artistic exploration of the essay aims to contribute to the necessary renovation of established vocabulary, formats, and methodologies, and the deconstructions of their very limits.

7

Thus, combining research with practical approaches and analysis, the journal seeks to articulate new formulations of urbanism.

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forA Issue #0 consists of a box, publication, bookmark, poster and puzzle. The 440 page publication is roughly the size of a large smartphone with essays and contributions ordered by time it takes to read, shortest to longest. To order a copy, please email distribution@bookspeopleplaces.com.
forA Issue #0 is contained inside a cardboard box that serves as a shipping container.
The forA logotype is a formation of 214 dots that can be scaled according to the method of printing or presentation.
For Issue #0, we die cut through the cover. Shortly before the books were due, the printer notified us that each hole had to be at least 2mm in diameter and the most dots they could punch was 160. We asked the printer to come up with a solution that would preserve the logo, so they ended up using two seperate dies to punch out the holes, overcoming the dot limitation.
While the booklet is printed entirely in grayscale, the bookmark is full color and contains an image or excerpt from each of the contributions, serving as another way to navigate the contents.
To help overcome the very tiny size of the publication, type and images occasionaly cross the gutter.
One of Peter Cook's illustrations are produced as a 9 piece puzzle to encourage a closer look.
The inside of the box contains an illustration of the contents.
The largest piece in forA Issue #0 is a poster which is approximately 7x the size of the box. Images from “Planet City” by Liam Young and “Dictionary” by Bijoy Jain are printed on each side.
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Launch of Issue #0 and Forum #2, I oA, University of Applied Arts Vienna © I oA, Emma Sanson

Launch of Issue #0 and Forum #2, I oA, University of Applied Arts Vienna ©I oA, Emma Sanson

Launch of Issue #0 and Forum #2, I oA, University of Applied Arts Vienna © I oA, Emma Sanson

Launch of Issue #0 and Forum #2, I oA, University of Applied Arts Vienna © I oA, Emma Sanson

Launch of Issue #0 and Forum #2, I oA, University of Applied Arts Vienna © I oA, Emma Sanson

“After two of the most difficult and divisive years in living memory, architects have a unique opportunity to show the world what we do best: put forward ambitious and creative ideas that help us imagine a more equitable and optimistic future in common.” — Lesley Lokko at the launch of forA on the Urban issue #0, Venice Architecture Biennale, September 2021. Photo Carmen Egger

A conversation between Lesley Lokko, John McMorrough and Liam Young at the launch of forA on the forA on the Urban issue #0, Venice, 2021. Photo Carmen Egger

Launch of forA on the Urban issue #0, Venice, September 2021. Photo Carmen Egger

“When we think about the urban audience, it includes all of us in various ways. On the occasion of this publication, how do you envision that particular audience? We want to reach everyone in a way, but we also know that we have publications and venues that deliver certain messages to certain groups.” — John McMorrough, in conversation with Lesley Lokko and Liam Young at the launch of forA on the Urban issue #0, Venice Architecture Biennale, September 2021. Photo Carmen Egger

Guests listening to a conversation between Lesley Lokko, John McMorrough and Liam Young at the launch of forA on the forA on the Urban issue #0, Venice, 2021. Photo Carmen Egger