This issue of the interdisciplinary periodical forA on the Urban explores the open, multilayered, interconnected, complex, and wild nature of urban manifestations, challenges, and situations through an expanded notion of architecture. Eleven contributions from sixteen international architects, artists and practitioners explore the myriad relationships between friction and space, from everyday frustrations and big inequities to social and political conflicts. At the same time, these relationships reflect the emergence of plurality and co-existence within and beyond what is understood as urban.

While each contribution – from newly commissioned essays and photography to original artworks – stands on its own, the ideas that weave through the issue suggest that the more specific the challenge, subject, place or perspective, the more commonalities it holds.

• The periodical forA on the Urban is produced by the Institute of Architecture at the University of Applied Arts Vienna and designed by Studio Lin
• With contributions by Keller Easterling, Phineas Harper, Hira Nabi, Ou Ning and Xu Tiantian, Lola Sheppard and Mason White, among others