![\"\"](\"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/network\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/UrbanComposition1.jpeg\" "\\"UrbanComposition\\"")
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Author: Mark C. Childs (Princeton Architectural Press, 2012)<\/strong><\/p>\n Cities are one of humanity\u2019s greatest achievements, more than just a sum of their parts\u2014they are a collective composition created through interactions between multiple designs, editors, conditions and histories. Cities are experimental playgrounds of different cultures, social diversities, and built forms: \u201csometimes the places that emerge are glorious\u2026\u201d other times they are not. <\/em><\/p>\n Urban Composition: Developing Community Through Design<\/em>\u00a0is a detailed outline of urban design problems and potential solutions. It serves as a framework for understanding the role of the civil designer in creating collaborative, collective composition in cities, and places of diversity that celebrate community and provide for it\u2019s inhabitants.<\/p>\n Within the book, Mark Childs\u2014architecture professor at University of New Mexico and member of the AIA\u2014uses numerous examples, that vary greatly in scale and type, to illustrate potential solutions to common urban design challenges. He notes that \u201ccivic designers and editors have an obligation to provide both private and collective goods.\u201d and suggests that the role of civil designers (architects, civil engineers, landscape architects, public artists, city council members and others) is to look critically at a city\u2019s history, local and global context, existing typologies \u2013 or building species \u2013 and potential processes for resolution, in order to create a collective composition. \u201cHow can civil designers\u2026collaborate in collective work of creating environmentally sound, socially resilient and soul-enlivening settlements?\u201d<\/p>\n Childs approach to design is that the problems and solutions regarding the urban environment are as varied as the cities, the audiences, and the neighbourhoods that are being designed for. He acknowledges these variations by encouraging the readers to use keen observation, precedents, and creativity as design tools. By asking a multitude of questions and offering a diverse range of solutions and examples, Childs has created a very useful resource for professionals and students alike.<\/p>\n Although at times the questions may seem overly optimistic, Childs\u2019 solutions are practical and accessible, addressing issues such as cost, the role of the government or non-profit agencies, standardization and life spans of built forms, community consultations, and even authorship. In the section on \u201criffing\u201d Childs asks: \u201chow can you respond to a built form, evoke a design tradition, or \u2018quote\u2019 a designer without merely copying?\u201d He responds to this through a discussion on artistic plagiarism, on the process of responding to conditions and on the role of \u201cniche perspectives\u201d in urban design. He reminds us that we will continue to develop new ways to respond to current conditions, and summarizes that riffing is necessary \u201cto create collective forms and practices,\u201d and that designers should: \u201criff on existing built forms to create collective forms and practices\u201d but to transform what\u2019s borrowed to \u201carticulately fit your projects contexts, support collective goods, and add professional dialogue.\u201d<\/p>\n