Available January 2012

Winy Maas, Felix Madrazo, The Why Factory (eds.)

Design:Thonik/BENG, Illustrated (colour and b/w), Paperback, 328 pages, 15 x 21 cm
English edition, ISBN 978-90-5662-804-8, € 30.00

In association with MVRDV, The Why Factory and Delft University of Technology

Trend analyses provide the fundamentals for the long-term scenarios used in the planning of the Netherlands, of which the ‘Randstad 2040’ structural vision is a good example. The Why Factory places these trends and extrapolations under its critical magnifying glass. Very often it is only the current trends that are taken into consideration in the formulation of scenarios. However, as the present-day situation impresses upon us, the future is highly unpredictable. The recent financial crisis and the global food crisis are clear indications that our current approach to planning is outmoded and needs to be revised.

Some newspaper headlines sound catastrophic while others seem trivial, but their effect can be devastating or can lead to major upheavals. The front pages are claimed by events that can turn the planning of an area, a city, a country or a continent on its head from one day to the next. In NL to Do, The Why Factory investigates how societies, and the Netherlands in particular, can react to such news quickly enough. The result is a design stance that can limit the detrimental consequences of radical changes and at the same time make it possible to take optimum advantage of unforeseen situations, including opportunities that can arise out of a crisis.

> Pre-Order at NAi Booksellers

Also available:
> Visionary Cities
> Green Dream
> The Why Factor(y) and the Future City

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The Why Factory

The Why Factory is a new global think-tank and research institute, led by Winy Maas/MVRDV and Delft University of Technology. The Why Factory advocates the necessity of research, theorization and politicization with regard to the urban future as the territory proper of architecture. The Why Factory initiates independent research projects, post-doctoral programmes, studios for MA courses in architecture and urbanism, post-doctoral studios at the Berlage Institute in Rotterdam, master classes, workshops, debates and round-table discussions.

The Why Factory explores the possibilities for the future develop¬ment of our cities, focusing on the production of models and visualizations for cities of the future. The Why Factory confronts our world’s existing reality with the future of the city.

The results of this research programme are being presented in a series of books, the ‘Future Cities Series’, which is being published in association with NAi Publishers in Rotterdam and Thonik/ BENG Graphic Designers in Amsterdam, and in films produced in collaboration with Wieland & Gouwens in Rotterdam and the BBC in London. The studies will be presented on television by the VPRO public broadcasting company and will be shown at the various exhibition venues (the Netherlands Architecture Institute, the Hong Kong Design Institute and the Aedes Gallery in Berlin).