Critical Care

Architecture and urbanism are dominated today by the interests of capital, the man-made climate crisis is threatening our planet, environmental and social injustice are on the rise. The exhibition assembles examples of architecture and urban planning which show that it is possible to care for a planet in a state of crisis.

In summer 2017 the curators for the grounds of Vienna Nordbahnhof explored ways that architecture and urban planning can repair the future. In the Az W public workspace, international teams developed Care+Repair prototypes in collaboration with partners from the neighbourhood. The exhibition ‘Critical Care’ now extends the local view to include a planetary perspective, showing 20 international examples.

The exhibition is based on a radical care perspective that always starts with what is already there in the midst of things, and shows ideas and practices from an extraordinarily diverse group of protagonists. Among these are projects such as the sustainable development of villages in China, public spaces for the new middle class in Brazil, the revitalisation of traditional irrigation systems in Spain, a community land trust in a favela of Puerto Rico, the conversion of modern megastructures in Europe, new alliances in Nairobi, or the resilient ongoing development of local building techniques in flooded areas of Pakistan. The projects prove that architecture and urbanism have the capacity to make the planet habitable again.

Curators: Angelika Fitz, Elke Krasny

A book is being published by MIT Press to accompany the exhibition.

Speakers at the opening:

Maria Vassilakou, Deputy Mayor of the City of Vienna, Executive City Councillor for Urban Planning

Veronica Kaup-Hasler, Executive City Councillor for Culture and Science

Angelika Fitz, Director or the Az W, Curator

Elke Krasny, Cultural theorist, Curator