In Pursuit of the City

Abstract

The identified difference in the
conceptualization and materialization of architecture from the perspective of three continents and cultures stems from a difference in the idea of the city, which, as a generative context, circumscribes all architectural production as both an intellectual construct and manifest reality. Such a finding is rooted in the premise of the city as a continuous object — an "urban artifact” — a causally unfolding relationship of constituent parts that generate the state of an integral (architectural) totality. This implies an idea of architecture as an instrument of inquiry into the possibility of the city (and thus the possibility of architecture) where the city is understood not as a fundamentally given and unquestionable condition to be complied with, but an evolving construct to be both sought and arrived to terms with. Select urban design projects undertaken at the Kansas City Design Center will offer a window into such a quest for the city, and the methodologies for analyzing and thinking the city in order to discover the possibilities for a design response at the point where the actual subject matter is no longer aligned with traditional and normative disciplinary subjects; where extra-disciplinary knowledge, needs and reality stand defiant of nominal practices (and the forms of things), and where the demand for social accountability and making a difference is higher than ever. The presented projects will make a case for expanding the boundaries of pedagogy, the applied relevance of academic work, and eventually a broader perspective for urban design thinking.