Please join us at the reception for the launch of two exciting new books: Shaping the City: Studies in History, Theory and Urban Design, 2nd Edition, edited by Edward Robbins and Rodolphe el-Khoury, Director of the Daniels Faculty Urban Design program and Masterplanning the Adaptive City: Computational Urbanism in the Twenty-first Century edited by Tom Verebes, Associate Professor in the Department of Architecture at the University of Hong Kong.

Taking on the key issues in urban design, Shaping the City: Studies in History, Theory and Urban Design, 2nd Edition examines the critical ideas that have driven these themes and debates through a study of particular cities at important periods in their development. As well as retaining crucial discussions about cities such as Los Angeles, Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, and Brasilia at particular moments in their history that exemplified the problems and themes at hand like the mega-city, the post-colonial city and New Urbanism, in this new edition the editors have introduced new case studies critical to any study of contemporary urbanism - China, Dubai, Tijuana, and the wider issues of informal cities in the Global South. Richard Sommer, Dean of the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design, also contributes a chapter in the book entitled "The Urban Design of Philadelphia: Taking the Towne for the City". Dean Sommer, along with contributors Adrian Blackwell and Jonathan D. Solomon, will be in attendance.

Far from a celebration of impermance and ephemerality, Masterplanning the Adaptive City: Computational Urbanism in the Twenty-first Century probes a paradox between the need for contemporary architecture to endure culturally, socially, environmentally and economically, and a seemingly more urgent concern for how cities adapt to dynamic contextual conditions, and evolve. Today’s urban complexities and contradictions lie in the task of planning - in an increasingly uncertain world. Investigating a deficiency of the preeminent masterplanning tools and techniques of the twentieth century to keep up with the pace of rapid urbanisation in the developing world, the author challenges the capacity of conventional design methodologies to manage the indeterminacy of urban development, the environment, the economy, migration and other dynamic forces which shape the dynamic nature of urbanity.  

Both books will be available for purchase during the reception.