Cities After Crisis

Cities After Crisis shows how urbanism and urban design is redefining cities after the global health, economic, and environmental crises of the past decades. The book details how these crises have led to a new urban vision-from avantgarde modern design to an artisan aesthetic that calls for simplicity and the everyday, from the sustainable development paradigm to a resilient vision that defends de-growth and the re-wilding of cities, from a homogenizing globalism to a new localism that values what is distinctive and nearby, from the privatization of the public realm to the commoning and self-governance of urban resources, and from top-down to bottom-up processes based on the engagement and empowerment of communities.
Through examples from cities around the world and a detailed look at the London neighbourhood of Dalston, the book shows designers and planners how to incorporate residents into the decision-making process, design inclusive public spaces that can be permanently reconfigured, reimagine obsolete spaces to accommodate radically contemporary uses, and build gardens designed and maintained by the community, among other projects.

Carlos García Vázquez, an architect and urban planner, is a full professor at the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura of the Universidad de Sevilla (Spain), as well as a visiting professor at the Scuola di Architettura Urbanistica Ingegneria delle Costruzioni of the Politecnico di Milano (Italy).
His main field of research is the contemporary city, having written the following books: Teorías e historia de la ciudad contemporánea (Fostering Arts and Design-FAD Award 2017); Antípolis. El desvanecimiento de lo urbano en el Cinturón del Sol (2011); Ciudad Hojaldre: Visiones urbanas del siglo XXI (2004); and Berlín-Potsdamer Platz: metrópoli y arquitectura en transición (2000)
He has carried out research stays at the Bartlett School of Architecture of University College London, the College of Architecture of Tongji University in Shanghai, and Northwestern University in Chicago.