MONU magazine has announced the theme for its 28th edition, the magazine will publish selective and discoursive articles on "client-shaped" urbanism. Exploring diverse topics with critical discussions on urbanism in its each issue, the urban-agitator publication will directly analyse the specific relationship between architects/urbanists and the "client" in making critical decisions for our cities.

"To some extent we touched on the subject around seven years ago in our issue #12, entitled "Real Urbanism" that dealt with the power of the real estate industry, and discussed in particular how real estate developers shape our cities. We showed how cities can easily be reduced to machines for making and spending money creating a revenue-focused and profit-driven urban planning culture," said Bernd Upmeyer, Editor-in-Chief of MONU.

"However, with this new issue of MONU we do not wish to repeat the debate on the real estate industry in general, but open it up, build upon it, and focus on the particular figure, group, company, association, administrative body, or institute, whether public, private, a combination of both, or something else, that is the "client".

Bernd Upmeyer added: "According to Alejandro Zaera-Polo, in a recent interview on Yale University Radio, you do not need a big budget to produce good architecture, but a good client who is sophisticated and intelligent. We could not agree more. Yet, the importance of the client in shaping our built environment, whether it comes to buildings, neighbourhoods or entire cities, is not included sufficiently in urban and architectural debates and discussions and thus largely forgotten, underestimated, and under-investigated. This is why we wish to dedicate an entire issue to the topic of Client-shaped Urbanism."

Bernd Upmeyer asks very incisive and provocative questions to open up the discussion and to tackle the problem from every perspective, some of these question include: "What kind of design methods need to be developed for better partnerships and results? How can the destructive love and hate relationship between both sides, such as the infamous one between Edith Farnsworth and Mies van der Rohe, be turned into something constructive and more successful?" 

"What can we learn from "clients" such as the former President of France, François Mitterrand, who was a strong promoter of culture during his time in office and responsible for many modern monuments in Paris such as the Louvre Pyramid or the Grande Arche?"

If you want to reflect your opinions over these questions or discuss the problem completely in another way, submit smart writing, enlightening storytelling, critical reflections, deep scrutiny and research, honest interviews, inspiring projects, documentary photography, and analytical illustrations for this specific issue.

Abstracts should be around 500 words, and images and illustrations in low resolution, should be sent, together with a short biography and a list of publications, as one single pdf-file that is not bigger than 1mb to [email protected] before December 31, 2017. 

Selected articles will be published on MONU's spring issue #28 in April 2018. You can see more information on MONU's website.

Top image: President François Mitterrand and I. M. Pei at the inauguration of the Louvre Pyramid in Paris on March 29, 1989. Image © Belga Image

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