MUDDY URBANISM: Mapping the Whau

MUDDY URBANISM: Mapping the Whau

Kathy Waghorn, Esther Mecredy and special guest Teddy Cruz

Teddy, Kathy and Esther share the view that architects “can be designers not just of form but of political

processes” , imagining not only forms and objects but also counter-spatial procedures and practices, such

as new political and economic structures and new modes of interaction. Central to their practices is the

question of representation – finding ways to make the informal flows and forces of the city visible in order

that they can be known and recognized, and can become part of design. Cruz says that we must “alter our

conventions of representation in order to absorb the ambiguity of these forces”, and that this “remains the

essential question in the negotiation between the formal and informal city”.

Teddy Cruz

As a research-based practice Estudio Teddy Cruz has amplified urban conflict as a productive zone of

controversy, leading to constructive dialogue and new modes of intervention into established politics and

economics of development in marginal neighborhoods. In 2008 Cruz represented the US in the Venice

Architecture Biennial and in 2010 he was part of the important exhibition Small Scale: Big Change New

Architects of Social Engagement at the Museum of Modern Art. In 2011 he was the recipient of a Ford

Foundation Visionaries Award. Teddy Cruz is currently a professor in public culture and urbanism in the

Visual Arts Department at University of California, San Diego, and the co-founder of the Center for Urban

Ecologies. See http://estudioteddycruz.com/

MUDDY URBANISM: Mapping the Whau course outline