City Catalyst

Alexander Eisenschmidt is an architect, writer, historian and theorist, who teaches design and history & theory at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He received his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania and his Diploma in architecture from the University of Leipzig in Germany. Before moving to Chicago, Eisenschmidt taught at Pratt Institute in New York and Syracuse University. Most recently, Eisenschmidt chaired a conference panel on the Metropolis and hosted a symposium at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, entitled Informal Cities. He has written widely for journals and recently accepted the co-editorship for the Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Modern and Contemporary Architecture, which will have a worldwide distribution.

• EditorIal 5Helen CastleAbout the GUEST-EDITOR 6Alexander EisenschmidtSPOTLIGHT 8Visual highlights of the issueIntroduction 14Stranger Than Fiction: A Mission StatementAlexander EisenschmidtThe City’s Architectural Project: From Formless City to Forms of Architecture 18Alexander EisenschmidtPatrons & Prototypes: Walmart’s Catalytic Urbanism 26Jesse LeCavalierLocalising the Global 36Kyong ParkRevolution of the Ordinary 42Daniela FabriciusChina’s Macro-Planning Policies: Architectural Catalyst or Constraint? 50Edward DenisonWe Will Be Making Active Form 58Keller EasterlingCounterpoints With Crisis 64Srdjan Jovanovic WeissMetropol Parasol, Seville 70Jürgen Mayer HThe Perfect Storm: Urbanism and Architecture 74Ron WitteThe Unified Project 80Albert PopeVoid Metabolism 88Yoshiharu TsukamotoUrban Wash 94Sean LallyAfrican Water Cities 98Kunlé AdeyemiMake No Big Plans 102Michelle Provoost and Wouter VanstiphoutShape and the City 108RE SomolToo Big To Fail 114Sarah Dunn and Martin FelsenParc Des Expositions (PEX), Toulouse: A Condenser for Diversity 120Clément BlanchetDancing with Entropy 124Adriaan Geuze and Matthew SkjonsbergImporting the City into Architecture: An Interview with Bernard Tschumi 130Alexander EisenschmidtCounterpoint 136Hello Stranger: Phenomenology and Topography of the MegacityCaroline BosContributors 142