Michael T. Martin

“Who is allowed to shape our cities, and how do they do it? Unlike many other fields of design, cities aren’t created by any one specialist or expert. There are many contributors to urban change, including ordinary citizens who can have a great impact improving the cities in which they live. By exploring a diverse range of urban design projects around the world, Urbanized will frame a global discussion on the future of cities. “

What’s so interesting about urban design is not only the aesthetic but how that aesthetic is shaped and used by urban inhabitants. So often people use a space completely counter to what the designers imagined, making it instantaneously vernacular. Design is not only used by inhabitants, though, it also shapes they way they navigate space and interact in that space. Urban design is one of the key, implicit factors in the social life of cities.