Orchestrated Urbansim: The Race Built City.

American cities are at a critical moment as urban cores are being rethought, reworked and "revitalized" for a new residential population. Designers and developers are looking to capitalize on this moment and play a major role in shaping the American city. However, to do this in a successful and appropriate way the forces behind the form of a city must be understood. Orchestrated Urbanism: The Race Built City looks to illustrate how American cities were formed—physically, socially, culturally—by delving into the lasting impacts of race-based policies, tracing the systemic longevity of their ramifications, and critiquing the move 'back to the city' as representative of only a few. Orchestrated Urbanism looks to guide a shift in contextual design thinking beyond the physical reaction and into a response to the culture and communities which exist. 

By drawing connections between racial policies and physical forms, Orchestrated Urbanism ultimately aims to both inform and transform the discourse on American cities into a more open, empathetic conversation between policy makers, designers, and the general public. Through the lens of this discourse, any urban project should react not only to its physical context, but to what created that context, and for whom; any re-populating city should ask not only who will live there in the future, but who was there in the past. With this narrative, the conversation can be directed towards a more strategic and solution-focused, "what do we do now?" discussion. High level approaches and strategies can be evaluated with a pointed focus on "undesigning" this racially divisive legacy

By illuminating a city's collective memories, Orchestrated Urbanismhopes to empower its collective aspirations. 
 

by Tyler Cukar