We are celebrating 15 years — and counting — of stories that are deeply researched and deeply felt, that build a historical record of what the city has been.
Join Urban Design Forum and Urban Omnibus/The Architectural League for a conversation on how critics view the city through its objects with Anna Kodé & Oliver Wainwright.
Wednesday, March 4, 2026
6:00pm – 8:00pm
The New York City College of Technology
300 Jay Street, Amphitheatre (LG30)
Brooklyn NY, 11201
Free and open to all
RSVP
Last month, New City Critics looked at New York City through the lens of discreet cultural objects — subway turnstiles, bathhouses, a takeaway chain — examining urban patterns and minutiae to trace larger systems of inequity, capital and resilience. What does the recent crop of innocuous green takeaway storefronts called Wonder have to do with algorithms? Who are the medieval-coded new anti-fare evasion turnstiles installed by the MTA designed to serve? And what does the classical architecture of Bathhouse belie?
In their writings, Anna Kodé of The New York Times and Oliver Wainwright of the Guardian tackle objects big and small, from metal fences to university campuses. Join them in conversation with the New City Critics around the question: How does a critic interpret urban objects to make a cultural argument?
Bios
Anna Kodé is an award-winning features reporter with The New York Times, where she covers the intersection of culture and real estate. Her reporting has taken her from the fences of Queens to Mattel’s Barbie dreamhouse archives. She is also an adjunct professor at New York University and the author of “Unseen Places,” a forthcoming book about observation.
Oliver Wainwright is the architecture and design critic of the Guardian. His writing examines the built environment in its broadest sense, focusing on the often invisible forces that shape our cities, interrogating the political, economic and social dynamics that drive urban change. Oliver trained as an architect at the University of Cambridge and the Royal College of Art and has worked in practice at a range of scales – from strategic planning in the mayor of London’s Architecture and Urbanism Unit, to international competitions at OMA in Rotterdam, and curatorial strategy at its sister think tank AMO, as well as public realm design at Muf Architecture/Art in London.
About New City Critics
New City Critics is a fellowship program that empowers new, fearless, and diverse voices to challenge the ways we understand, design, and build our cities. A partnership between Urban Design Forum and The Architectural League, the fellowship supports the development of critics from underrepresented backgrounds through guest lectures and workshops, research guidance, networking, and the production of new writing on a dedicated platform on Urban Omnibus. Through published work and other channels, the fellowship encourages a more expansive conversation on the future of cities.
Questions?
If you have any questions, please reach out to rsvp@urbandesignforum.org with a subject line containing the event title.
The views expressed here are those of the authors only and do not reflect the position of The Architectural League of New York.
Dispatches from the New City Critics fellows: new, fearless, and diverse voices to challenge the ways we understand, design, and build our cities.
