Bilingal publication of the competition entitled “Planetary Urbanism”, which was launched in 2015 as the second „Critique of the Present“ competition after the first competition „Out of Balance“ in 2012. The publication is indentical to ARCH+ 223.

We are living in the century of cities and urbanisation. Urban environments will become the main organisational form for almost all human societies, where almost all the future issues of humanity will be decided. The unstoppable progress of global urbanisation however raises more questions than we can currently answer. Does the process of urbanisation manifest itself in characteristic attributes, recognisable patterns in different parts of the world? Are the environmental effects comparable? Are the causes of migration comparable? And what are the downsides of the urbanisation process, i.e., what happens to the rural regions left behind? Urbanisation overturns all traditional structures, but is it in fact a process that is open to general analysis, which can be conceptually defined, or does it come in diverse singular movements that can only be interpreted empirically?

Submissions for the competition were received from 125 teams with a total of 386 participants from 31 countries. Through the selected 50 entries based on concrete empirical examples in the medium of information design, this publication demonstrates the framework conditions that change as a result of the urbanisation process and which account for the transformation of urban life.

Bilingal publication of the competition entitled “Planetary Urbanism”, which was launched in 2015 as the second „Critique of the Present“ competition after the first competition „Out of Balance“ in 2012. The publication is indentical to ARCH+ 223.

We are living in the century of cities and urbanisation. Urban environments will become the main organisational form for almost all human societies, where almost all the future issues of humanity will be decided. The unstoppable progress of global urbanisation however raises more questions than we can currently answer. Does the process of urbanisation manifest itself in characteristic attributes, recognisable patterns in different parts of the world? Are the environmental effects comparable? Are the causes of migration comparable? And what are the downsides of the urbanisation process, i.e., what happens to the rural regions left behind? Urbanisation overturns all traditional structures, but is it in fact a process that is open to general analysis, which can be conceptually defined, or does it come in diverse singular movements that can only be interpreted empirically?

Submissions for the competition were received from 125 teams with a total of 386 participants from 31 countries. Through the selected 50 entries based on concrete empirical examples in the medium of information design, this publication demonstrates the framework conditions that change as a result of the urbanisation process and which account for the transformation of urban life.