Critical Cuts

In a discussion organized by Urban Design Forum and The Architectural League, Christopher Hawthorne and Anjulie Rao described the role of the critic as principally educational: to make government language accessible to the greater public, to make culture transparent to their readers, and as Rao offered, to “put a name to something that the public cannot describe.”

The pair was joined in conversation by fellows of the New City Critics program, which engages diverse perspectives in writing about cities. If criticism is in crisis, asked fellow Calil Arguedas-Russell, then what can be done? “There is always the crisis of not being paid enough and having healthcare,” said Rao, who is based in Chicago. “But I want the crisis to be reporting and editorializing merging together and editors not knowing what to do with it.” She added that her critical practice was connected to her experience as a lecturer who pushes her students to investigate the interconnectivity between architecture and city politics.

Hawthorne commented on the niche quality of criticism. “We live in a cult…