Drawing the City

How do we represent the spatial and social complexities of contemporary urban environments? And why is this important for today’s artists, designers, planners, architects, and landscape architects? Twenty-first century cities can be dazzling, magnificent and awe-inspiring– full of diverse culture, creative activity, architectural marvels, and cutting-edge innovation. But they are also facing some of the most challenging problems in history– unprecedented economic inequality, rising sea levels, unpredictable weather events, sprawl, and severe pollution to name just a few. This chapter contemplates the anatomy of the city in relation to figure drawing. Just as early modern Renaissance artists and scientists, anxious to understand the inner workings and structure of the body, opened and drew cadavers to decipher its constitution and form, so can we dissect and illuminate urban systems through observation. Understanding how it works helps us to portray it, and portraying it, helps us understand how it works