Recoded City Co-Creating Urban Futures

Recoded City examines alternative urban design, planning and architecture for the other 90%: namely the practice of participatory placemaking, a burgeoning practice that co-author Thomas Ermacora terms ?recoding?. In combining bottom-up and top-down means of regenerating and rebalancing neighbourhoods affected by declining welfare or struck by disaster, this growing movement brings greater resilience.

Recoded City sheds light on a new epoch in the relationship between cities and civil society by presenting an emerging range of collaborative solutions and distributed governance models. The authors draw on their own fresh research of global pioneers forging localist design strategies, public-realm interventions and new stakeholder dynamics. As the world becomes increasingly digital and virtual, a myriad of online tools and technological options is becoming available. These give unprecedented co-creation opportunities to communities and professionals alike, yielding the benefits of a more open ? DIY ? society.

Because of its close engagement with people, place and local identity, the field of participatory placemaking has huge untapped potential. Responding to the challenges of the Anthropocene era, Recoded City is for decision-makers, developers and practitioners working globally to make better and more liveable cities.

1. Introduction, 2. The rise of bottom-up placemaking, 3. Wiki culture, 4. Fast forward now, 5. Reframing placemaking, 6. Recoding: the art of participatory placemaking, 7. Open society, inequality and the post-individualist spirit, 8. Futures, 9. Stories, 10. Voices

Thomas Ermacora FRSA is a regeneration architect, impact entrepreneur and futures thinker, nominated for the UK Placemaking Awards 2013 and 2014. He is founder and creative director of the tactical urban design non-profit Clear Village (Clear-Village.org), delivering participatory initiatives catalyzing the recovery of neighbourhoods across Europe, as well as of the Limewharf cultural innovation hub (Limewharf.org) and Machines Rooms fab lab (MachinesRoom.org) in east London. Inspired by project work with Gehl Architects and Gehry Partners among others, and now working closely with Carmody Groarke, his observations and commitments are the reason for this book.

Lucy Bullivant PhD Hon FRIBAis a cultural historian and award-winning author, exhibition curator, professor of urban design history, a Built Environment Expert for Design Council Cabe, and the founder and Creative Director of the webzine Urbanista.org. She has a PhD in adaptive planning from the Sir John Cass Faculty of Art, Architecture and Design, London Metropolitan University. Her publications include Masterplanning Futures (Routledge), Responsive Environments, and Anglo Files: UK Architecture’s Rising Generation. She has curated successful exhibitions for bodies including the Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture Shenzhen 2015, Vitra Design Museum, the Milan Triennale and the British Council. www.lucybullivant.net