Vishaan Chakrabarti: The Architecture of Urbanity, Designing for Nature, Culture, and Joy

Abstract

In architect Vishaan Chakrabarti’s latest book, The Architecture of Urbanity: Designing for Nature, Culture, and Joy (Princeton University Press, 2024), he argues that architecture, and more specifically “connective design—defined as conscious work by designers to forge deeper bonds across society at every scale—is key to addressing some of our most pressing challenges from climate change to political division to technological dislocations.”

In this book talk, Chakrabarti examines architecture’s relationship to history’s greatest social, technological, and environmental dilemmas. He presents a rich selection of work by a global array of practicing architects, demonstrating how innovative design can dramatically improve life in big cities and small settlements around the world, from campuses and refugee camps to mega-cities like São Paulo, Lima, Los Angeles, New York, Paris, and Tokyo. The Architecture of Urbanity eloquently explains why cities are the last, best hope for humanity and why designers must, alongside political, business, community, and cultural leaders, steward the healing of our planet.

This lecture is a part of the Thomas J. Baird Visiting Critic Lecture Series.

Biography

Vishaan Chakrabarti

Vishaan Chakrabarti is the Thomas J. Baird Visiting Critic in Architecture at Cornell AAP and the founder of PAU | Practice for Architecture and Urbanism, a Manhattan-based architecture firm dedicated to building ecological, equitable, and joyous communities. He leads PAU’s cultural, institutional, infrastructure, and public space projects, including Brooklyn’s Domino Sugar Refinery, Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Princeton’s Hobson College, New York’s Pennsylvania Station, and the FAA’s new air traffic control tower prototype. He is the author of A Country of Cities: A Manifesto for an Urban America (Metropolis Books, 2013).