Supertight reframes extreme urban density not as a problem to be solved but as a generative condition — one that has produced distinct social, spatial, and cultural practices across Asia's rapidly expanding cities over the past three decades.
About This Book
Where most architectural discourse on density fixates on towers and floor-area ratios, Supertight investigates something more granular: the culture of tightness. The distinction matters. Tightness is not simply density — it is the set of social, economic, and material behaviours that crystallise under conditions of extreme urban compression. Focused on Asian cities, this collection brings together designers, researchers, and practitioners to examine the small, intense, hyper-condensed spaces that dense urbanism produces as a by-product. The result is a serious inquiry into new urban models — and into the intimacy, ingenuity, and difficulty that comes with living in close proximity at metropolitan scale.
Key Features
- 480 pages of contributed essays, design research, and visual documentation on urban density and spatial culture
- Contributions by Yoshiharu Tsukamoto / Atelier Bow-Wow, Minsuk Cho / Mass Studies, WOHA, Drawing Architecture Studio, Superimpose, Atelierco, Rafael A Balboa with Yasemin Sahiner, Sanuki Daisuke, Desiree Grunewald, Sue Hajdu, Tohru Horiguchi, Alban Mannisi, Yazid Ninsalam, Charles Anderson, New Office Works, Archie Pizzini, Andrew Stiff, Taishin Shiozaki / Shiozaki Lab, and others
- Published by Actar D, 2022
What You'll Discover
- Why tightness constitutes its own urban condition — distinct from density — and how designers have theorised and responded to it across Asian cities
- The role of designers in shaping the material and social behaviours that emerge from extreme urban compression
- How the unprecedented metropolitan growth of Asian cities is generating new urbanisms, new architectures, and new models for inhabiting shared space
- The paradox at the core of tightness: to be constrained and small, yet open to economies of proximity and a particular kind of social intimacy
About the Author
Graham Crist and John Doyle edited this volume, drawing together a wide international field of contributors with direct engagement in the cities and design cultures under examination. [Details available upon request]
Specifications
- Format: Softcover
- Pages: 480
- Dimensions: 210 x 140 mm
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9781638400066
- Publisher: Actar D
- Publication Date: 2022
Perfect For: Architects, urban designers, and researchers with a focus on high-density urbanism, Asian cities, and the intersection of spatial practice with social and cultural life.