Engaged Urbanism: Cities and Methodologies

 Engaged Urbanism showcases the exciting ways in which urbanists are responding to this question and working towards fairer cities. Its authors offer succinct, candid and carefully illustrated commentaries on the trials and successes of risk-taking research, revealing how they collaborate across fields of expertise, inventing or adapting methods to suit bespoke situations. Featuring novel uses and combinations of practice-from activism, architectural design and undercover journalism, to film, sculpture, performance and photography- in a diversity of cities such as Beirut, Johannesburg, Kisumu, London and Rio de Janeiro, Engaged Urbanism demonstrates how some of the greatest challenges for present and future populations are being rigorously and creatively addressed.

Review: 'In putting all our sensory capacities to work, Engaged Urbanism offers evidence of the efficacy of methodological invention and demonstrates the possibilities researchers, activists, service providers, and policymakers everywhere have available to deepen their understandings of urban life and to work creatively with what is available to them. Participatory photography, art installations, data and spatial mapping, collective writing, undercover detection, longitudinal documentation, public performance, digital reconstruction, and community mobilization are all deployed to enliven our capacities to know the urban with greater rigor and enthusiasm, as well as an appreciation for the heterogeneity of conditions and "inhabitants" that surround us.' - Professor AbdouMaliq Simone, author of City Life from Jakarta to Dakar: Movements at the Crossroads.