UR (Urban Research) Launches on May - Examining the World's Cities

New York, NY, May 2, 2016 (Newswire.com) - ​​​​Terreform, New York-based nonprofit center for urban research and advocacy, announces the launch of its publication imprint UR (Urban Research) Books on May Day (May 5, 2016). Dedicated to progressive thinking on all matters urban, UR will release its first six titles, which investigate a broad range of social, cultural, economic, political, environmental, and design issues that define cities today.

Understanding that no single approach is adequate to the promise and problem of the urban, UR will publish a wide range of design and analysis with the goal of becoming a key venue for disseminating urban ideas. UR’s publishing program aims to get the word out about solutions exceeding the imaginative reach of official planning and design, encourage vigorous debate, and engage with progressive urban research and critical advocacy across the world.

"We are thrilled that UR is making its debut, and look forward to adding a broad new avenue for dissemination and debate about our urbanizing planet. Our goal is to offer a supportive home to critical and visionary ideas about the future of the world's cities and we hope to become a valued resource to people and organizations striving to create sustainable, equitable, and beautiful environments. We welcome proposals for projects from all who share these goals."

Michael Sorkin, President of Terreform and Editor in chief of UR

“We are thrilled that UR is making its debut, and look forward to adding a broad new avenue for dissemination and debate about our urbanizing planet. Our goal is to offer a supportive home to critical and visionary ideas about the future of the world’s cities and we hope to become a valued resource to people and organizations striving to create sustainable, equitable, and beautiful environments.  We welcome proposals for projects from all who share these goals.”   Michael Sorkin, President of Terreform and Editor in chief of UR

The first six titles, written and edited by urban scholars, academics, architects and researchers in the fields of urban design, architecture, landscape architecture, urban geography, and political science, explore diverse subjects ranging from expansion of urban universities and speculations on a changed world to critical fantastical readings on modernity.

Our spring line-up includes:

Gowntown: A 197-X Plan For Upper Manhattan by Terreform. ISBN: 978-0-9960041-0-7, $40.

Waterproofing New York, edited by Denise Hoffman Brandt and Catherine Seavitt. ISBN: 978-0-9960041-0-7, $40.

2100: A Dystopian Utopia / The City After Climate Change by Vanessa Keith and StudioTEKA, Preface by Saskia Sassen. ISBN: 978-0-9960041-2-1, $40.

Adventures in Modernism: Thinking With Marshall Berman, edited by Jennifer Corby. ISBN: 978-0-9960041-6-9, $25.

Beyond The Square: Urbanism and the Arab Uprisings, edited by Deen Sharp and Claire Panetta. ISBN: 978-0-9960041-4-5, $28.

Mahometan & Celestial’s Encyclopedic Guide to Modernity by Steven Flusty with Pauline Yu. ISBN: 978-0-9960041-5-2, $40.

The books are printed in the United States, and available at URpub.org and at select bookstores and conference events. ​

Forthcoming titles include Occupy All Streets: The Rio de Janeiro Olympics and the Competition Over Urban Futures, edited by Bruno Carvalho, Mariana Cavalcanti, and Vyjayanthi Rao Venuturupalli (July 2016); The Helsinki Effect: A Public Alternative to Culture Driven Development, edited by Terike Haapoja, Andrew Ross, and Michael Sorkin (September 2016); Zoned Out: Race, Displacement and City Planning in New York City, edited by Tom Angotti and Sylvia Morse (September 2016); An Atlas of Extraordinary Rendition: Space, Sovereignty and Torture in the Global War on Terror by Jordan H. Carver (September 2016); Kongjian Yu: Letters to the Mayors of China, edited by Terreform (May 2017); Why Yachay? Cities, Knowledge, and Development, edited by Terreform (May 2017); New York City (Steady) State: Home Grown by Terreform (May 2017); and Gregory Ain: Low-Cost Modern Housing and the Construction of the Social Landscape by Anthony Fontenot (May 2017).

Terreform Center for Advanced Urban Research (terreform.info) is a nonprofit research and advocacy group founded in 2005 by Michael Sorkin. Its mission is to investigate the forms, policies, technologies, and practices that will yield equitable, sustainable, and beautiful cities for our urbanizing planet. Future books from UR will cover projects ranging from the practical to the utopian, from community-generated plans for neighborhood transformation, to visionary speculations by designers, and to collations of critical arguments about issues that shape urban growth and survival.

For further information and review copies, contact:

Elisabeth Weiman, eweiman@terreform.info, +1 212-627-9121

UR (Urban Research): info@URpub.org

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Source: terreform.info