Understanding and managing urban change in our global era demands a high degree of specialised and interdisciplinary knowledge. At the same time, city planners, architects, researchers, policymakers, and activists are deeply immersed in the chaotic and often contradictory urban realities that they are asked to address. What is Critical Urbanism? offers an innovative toolkit for engaging these present realities across disciplinary specialisations and geographic purviews. Central to the book is the research and pedagogy of the Critical Urbanisms MA program at the University of Basel, established in collaboration with the African Centre for Cities at the University of Cape Town. The program's renowned and emerging urbanists demonstrate the power of working with care and reciprocity across different contexts and institutions, driven by engagement with varied communities of practice. They show how alternative urban futures can be imagined by addressing the historical injustices and global entanglements that shape the urban present. The book is tailored to students, graduates and teachers of urban studies and related disciplines including architecture, urban design, human geography, architectural history, and urban anthropology.

New solutions to the way in which the resources within the city can be best used. Resources are the stuff of which the future is made. The city itself is a resource, as it opens up a wide range of possibilities for every individual and for society as a whole. The city is not an inexhaustible resource, however. Only if it is used in a sustainable way and if it does not solely serve short-term, isolated interests, can it also fulfill the needs of future generations. The biggest challenge for contemporary urban design is, therefore, to plan the city itself as a regenerative cycle, not only in terms of shaping its spatial and aesthetic qualities, but also in relation to its development over time. Using articles, student projects, and examples, this book presents methods and strategies for designing the city as a resource; it thus lends a new meaning to the idea of sustainable building.