urbanNext

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urbanNext

urbanNext is a multiplatform aimed at expanding architecture to rethink cities.

urbanNext is promoted by Actar Publishers, a publishing house based in New York and Barcelona, with more than 25 years of experience publishing books on architecture, photography and design. This project emerged as the logical next step for a group of editors engaged in redefining the task of disseminating, and generating content, by harnessing the capacities of the digital medium: its multiple fo

rmats, and the interaction with readers. For more than 4,000 years, human beings have been organizing collectively in different urban conditions. Information technologies, advances in engineering, social participation, ecological challenges, and new cultural references all add dimensions to this urban framework, making its discussion and conceptualization a much more complex task. Expanding on traditional categories like the megalopolis or the rural village, the small town or the city, we believe it is more relevant to talk about urbanization processes and how density and complexity are forces for differentiation. This expanded urban condition plays an active role in shaping and rethinking architecture and design practices as a whole: that is the focus of urbanNext. urbanNext’s main goal is to generate a global network to produce content focused on rethinking architecture through the contemporary urban milieu —urbanity that is conditioned by the specificities of the information society, sustainable awareness, globalized knowledge and leisure. urbanNext is designed to establish a working structure and a multidisciplinary authorial platform for collaborations between people who have an interest in working, thinking and reflecting on design practices and their future. Finally, urbanNext is dedicated to distributing content through multiple channels, formats and media (print, digital, audiovisual, and even exhibitions or events). This convergence of resources, teams and media allows for a new collective narrative, which we call transmedia.

26/11/2025

Coelacanth and Associates turn Shibuya Stream into an urban mixer. Instead of a sealed tower, they carve a web of voids that pull city life inside—streets, views, flows, and unexpected pockets of calm. The result is a high-rise that behaves like a neighborhood: porous, connected, and alive through movement. A new way to imagine density, one void at a time.

25/11/2025

From disused mill to civic commons. At Dacheng Flour Factory, NODE opened the ground floor to let the city flow into the factory—and the factory return to the city. A moment of temporary regeneration that proved the power of architecture to catalyse community, even when the story isn’t neatly finished.

Full interview on urbanNext.net

12/11/2025

Field Operations reimagines California’s South Bay as a living sponge—where nature and infrastructure merge to protect communities from rising seas. Through restored wetlands and floodable landscapes, the South Bay Sponge builds resilience, equity, and connection across the Bay. 🌿🌊

23/10/2025

OFIS reimagines a 1920s bourgeois villa as a living archive. Restored details and uncovered murals meet light steel pavilions that open the house to its garden. Vila Mirje turns memory into a framework for contemporary life.

14/10/2025

Sky becomes ground. At Zurich Airport Park, Robin Winogrond + Studio Vulkan reimagined an infrastructural fringe as a dynamic public ecosystem. Vertical layers—from moraine to forest to misty sky platform—are not just landscapes, but living narratives, where ecology and social life enrich each other.

07/10/2025

Join Theo Lorenz and Tanja Siems, authors of People (Actar Publishers, 2025), for a talk hosted by urbanNext.
Discover how their idea of the “/Person”, someone at home in more than one discipline, redefines how we practice, teach, and create today.
Free registration in the bio and stories!
🎙️ Moderated by Dima Fadel, followed by an open Q&A.
📚 /People out now (Actar Publishers)

18/09/2025

Something is changing… any guesses? Drop us what you think it is in the comments 👇

16/09/2025

A school that teaches before class starts.
In Soa, Cameroon, African Flow by Vicente Guallart and Daniel Ibáñez (Urbanitree) reimagines learning through ancestral design, local craft, and low-tech materials.
A climbable tree, a grotto, and chapel-like spaces shape how children move, think, and grow.
Built with local artisans, it’s a living classroom of identity, care, and place.

15/09/2025

🚦 In Nairobi’s hustle, boda bodas cut through traffic like no other. For Nelson Mangwali, riding through Gigiri and Westlands isn’t just work — it’s a mission to get passengers safely and on time. But behind the ride: safety risks, fierce competition, and a city trying to regulate its fastest (and riskiest) transport.
🛵 Fast, flexible, and fraught — welcome to the world of boda bodas.

14/09/2025

🎥 The Shell as Space Enclosure — Part 3 of 4
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“Candela’s church doesn’t just hold up a roof—it makes space. Curved, collective, and raw.”
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In this episode, Alexander Eisenschmidt explores Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, one of Candela’s most daring experiments in “full design,” where structure and space merge seamlessly.⁠
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From challenging trabeated concrete to redefining architectural curvature, Candela’s thin shells become both a spatial system and a social invitation.⁠
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📚 Félix Candela: From Mexico City to Chicago, published by Actar Publishers .publishers
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Interview by
Film editing by
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13/09/2025

What if the unfinished could speak?
Francisco Ibáñez’s Non-Structures captures London’s buildings in flux — caught between rise and ruin. These fleeting forms question permanence and suggest that the city’s most honest art might be accidental.

12/09/2025

Beyond the concrete walls of CP Vietnam’s HQ, LJ-Group crafts a living landscape where well-being and ecology meet. A koi pond anchors tradition, shaded paths invite pause, and rooftop gardens offer sunset views—all woven into the daily rhythm of work. 🌿☀️

Dirección

Carrer Roca I Batlle 2-4
Barcelona
08023

Teléfono

+34933282183

Página web

http://urbannext.net/

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urbanNext is promoted by Actar Publishers, a publishing house based in New York and Barcelona, with more than 20 years of experience publishing books on architecture, photography and design. This project emerged as the logical next step for a group of editors engaged in redefining the task of disseminating, and generating content, by harnessing the capacities of the digital medium: its multiple formats, and the interaction with readers. Introduction For more than 4,000 years, human beings have been organizing collectively in different urban conditions. Information technologies, advances in engineering, social participation, ecological challenges, and new cultural references all add dimensions to this urban framework, making its discussion and conceptualization a much more complex task. Expanding on traditional categories like the megalopolis or the rural village, the small town or the city, we believe it is more relevant to talk about urbanization processes and how density and complexity are forces for differentiation. This expanded urban condition plays an active role in shaping and rethinking architecture and design practices as a whole: that is the focus of urbanNext.