The New Normal

How do technology and ecological challenges forge future cities?
Strelka Institute of Media, Architecture and Design was founded by entrepreneur and philanthropist Alexander Mamut in 2009 to change the cultural and physical landscapes of Russian cities. The institute promotes positive changes and creates new ideas and values through its educational activities. Strelka provides brand new learning opportunities, while the City remains at the center of the Institute’s research program.
This chunky, inspirational book is the first major publication emerging from Strelka’s The New Normal program. The institute’s most ambitious research unit focuses on research and design for the city and explores the opportunities posed by emerging technologies for interdisciplinary urban design practices. It is a speculative urbanism think-tank and a platform for the invention and articulation of a new discourse and new models. The New Normal has been conceived by American sociologist and architectural theorist Benjamin H. Bratton, who is known for a mix of philosophical and aesthetic research, organizational planning and strategy, and for his writing on the cultural implications of computing and globalization.
The book features seventeen lavishly illustrated contributions by international researchers and designers that outline as well the scope of The New Normal’s output. They are held together by a topical essay in eight parts by Benjamin H. Bratton.
With a foreword by Varvara Melnikova and contributions by Julieta Aranda, Nicolay Boyadjiev, Benjamin H. Bratton, Ben Cerveny, Keller Easterling, Yuk Hui (in conversation), Lydia Kallipoliti, Geoff Manaugh, Lev Manovich, Metahaven, Trevor Paglen, Robert Gerard Pietrusko, Patricia Reed, Stephanie Sherman, Anastassia Smirnova, Molly Wright Steenson, Rival Strategy, Olga Tenisheva and Liam Young.