The Center for Architecture will host Thomas Ermacora and Lucy Bullivant to discuss their new book, Recoded City: Co-creating Urban Futures. Recoded City examines urban design, planning, and architecture for the other 90%; that is, the practice of participatory policymaking, which Ermacora has deemed "recoding." It challenges traditional modes of urban development with people-centered alternatives, exploiting digital fabrication technologies.
The book showcases 43 projects from around the world, exemplars of grassroots placemaking achieved through a high degree of participation by local residents and users collaborating with professionals. Often, these are in economically deprived or disaster-hit areas and make use of new technology. The emphasis is on bottom-up rather than top-down, socially informed architecture rather than mega-planning, DIY rather than developer, liveability rather than profit.