Call for Applications: New City Critics

Urban Omnibus / The Architectural League of New York and Urban Design Forum are launching a fellowship program to empower new, fearless, and diverse voices to challenge the ways we understand, design, and develop our cities. The fellowship will support the development of five critics from underrepresented backgrounds through guest lectures and workshops, research guidance, mentorship opportunities, networking, and production of new critical projects in Urban Omnibus and other leading publications. Through public programs and other channels, the fellowship will encourage a more expansive conversation on the future of cities.

New City Critics aims to drive change in the culture of criticism. In 2022, architectural criticism and urban analysis in mainstream media remains the domain of just a few, largely older, and mostly male, white writers. Though it is a shrinking arena, as newspapers and magazines have moved away from having full-time critics on staff, it remains extremely powerful. A handful of professional critics from similar backgrounds means attention to a limited selection of topics and perspectives. We want to see kaleidoscopic coverage from a much wider variety of perspectives and rewrite public understanding of why urban design and development matter.

New City Critics is for a criticism of city design and development that reflects the people who live in cities. We need more informed and sustained examination of citymaking in media beyond small professional circles, for a broader public. Housing, workplaces, infrastructure, public spaces and monuments define the contours of our lives. They demand critical attention and a critical imagination expressed through novel formats and in new forums. Our goal is to equip a new generation of critics with new skills and a meaningful network, to conceive and carry out potent projects and advance the work they want to see in the world.

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