Cities are often compared to living organisms. Buildings and neighborhoods as organ systems, connected by arteries through which people and means of transport flow. The creators of the book A city for everyone: a beginner's urban planner's manual liken it to an anthill. But someone has to plan, build and take care of such an anthill (even if this is sometimes forgotten). But how to do that? And who does such things? Inquisitive children from the age of twelve can find answers to these and many other questions in a visually unique guide by Osamu Okamura, David Böhm and Jiří Franta.
It is precisely the non-traditional appearance of the publication that has the greatest potential to attract the attention of young readers as well as adults. Simple black-and-white illustrations depicting various urban elements or their users are complemented by photographs of 15 models, assembled by the artistic duo Böhm&Franta, who have already participated in many similar graphically original projects. Models of various parts of the city are assembled by the authors from things that most of us could find at home: classic paper 2D and 3D miniatures of buildings and people are supplemented with metal cars, pieces of plants, modeling clay, straws or sticks. We can also find a fruit and vegetable shop, where the products are real balls of wine, cherry tomatoes and cashew nuts. The polluted river is then portrayed by plastic bags, water and some instant soup noodles.
In the texts, Osamu Okamura presents the city as an interconnected system. Briefly and accessible to laymen, it summarizes topics such as mass transport, brownfields or the phenomenon of empty houses. It shows who decides on the shape of cities and what all must be taken into account when making this decision - it explains the relationships between residents, investors, politicians and nature. The reader can follow this life in the photos of the models. And it is quite possible that after reading the manual alone (or with parents) he will get the desire to build his own city "what the house gave".
Valérie Štylerová
OKAMURA, Osamu. Město pro každého: manuál urbanisty začátečníka. Ilustroval David BÖHM, ilustroval Jiří FRANTA. Fotografie Pavel HORÁK. V Praze: Labyrint, 2020.
The review was created at the Department of Journalism of FSV UK under the supervision of PhDr. Jana Čeňková, Ph.D.