The Urban Research Prototype

As part of a research project supported by the CUNY Adjunct Incubator, Aurash Khawarzad, an Adjunct Faculty at Macaulay Honors College, CUNY is developing a research project titled “The Urban Research Prototype.”

The Urban Research Prototype project is an experimental tool for multimedia documentation of the built environment. It includes content ranging from interviews, maps, images, video, diagrams, and writings that were captured in New York City between 2019 and 2020. The publication is part research, part art project, and part technical guide. The medium is meant to demonstrate how research can be captured and transformed into a multimedia tool, thus creating a detailed study of a particular place and subject matter. The general format of Urban Research Prototype can be applied to any topic. It’s primary goal is to familiarize researchers with spatial dynamics, narratives, and other data that provide insight into what various urban planning issues might be relevant for the place and/or topic they are researching.

The mixed-media aspect of this work is an example of how publications can work simultaneously as digital and analog, and both online and offline. In this case, the primary form of communication is a short video, however, the publication also works as an 8.5” x 11” zine.

Watch the video here:

Click here or below to read or download the PDF zine:

This project is part of the CUNY Adjunct Incubator and is co-sponsored by the Center for the Humanities and the Gittell Urban Studies Collective at the Graduate Center, CUNY.