This publication seeks to enlarge the conventional definition of ‘social design’ by introducing a series of practices, tactics, and speculations presented by international experts in the field. The book reviews the contributions to the ‘Social Design: Public Action’ international symposium held at the University of Applied Arts Vienna in 2013, which questioned the transformational power of new forms of the social, political, and cultural within the urban realm. The editors aim to connect artistic research and scientific knowledge with hands-on spatial production, interweaving the discourse into the very fabric of society.

This compact volume presents the curatorial visions behind the Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture (UABB 2015), and an overview of its various components. Each of the curators has charted a different approach to the theme of ‘Re-Living the City’. Alfredo Brillembourg and Hubert Klumpner call attention to the contributions of ordinary citizens in reshaping the urban fabric to their needs. They trace a brief history of radical urbanism, a concept that asks professional architects and planners to learn from ad hoc practices. The etymology of radical refers to roots, and indeed radical urbanism seeks the roots of urbanism in bottom-up innovations.

UABB 2015 Volume 1: Re-Living the City

‘The Evolution of Radical Urbanism’

Publications

The Korean artists MOON Kyungwon & JEON Joonho create works that address elemental questions concerning contemporary civilization in light of political, socioeconomic, and ecological changes. The exhibition project News From Nowhere, which they jointly initiated in 2012, is premised on a post-apocalyptic scenario: humanity has been wiped out almost entirely and is forced to reconsider long-held convictions that may no longer be tenable. The project is designed as a steadily evolving ensemble; earlier iterations were presented in Kassel (documenta 13) and Chicago. For their exhibition News From Nowhere: Zürich Laboratory, MOON & JEON collaborated with Urban-Think Tank in developing the idea of a mobile agora that also underlies the exhibition architecture.

News From Nowhere: Zürich Laboratory

‘Breaking the Binaries’

The work of Urban-Think Tank has centered on the dynamic cities of the Sur Global. These are spaces of ordered delirium and yawning inequality, defined by a fluid mode of development and a population that grows with every driving impulse. If cities are simultaneously lived and dreamed, then our task in imagining the teeming metropolises of 2050 is to envisage how social needs can best be translated into physical form.

Title	Social Design - Public Action: Arts as Urban Innovation
Authors	Alfredo Brillembourg & Hubert Klumpner
Release	July 2015
Editors	Anton Falkeis & Lukas Feireiss
Publisher	Birkhäuser
Pages	196

‘Smart Options for the Informal City’

Social Design - Public Action: Arts as Urban Innovation