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06.17.25

New City Critics: Monuments, Peripheries & Ecologies

Event New City Critics
June 17th, 2025
6:00pm - 8:00pm
a83
83 Grand Street, New York, NY, USA
Ellie Botoman

Ellie Botoman is an environmental art historian researching the impact of climate change on cultural heritage preservation and possibilities for multisensory and multispecies collaboration in the design of exhibitions and institutional architectures. They have previously held roles at the Cooper Hewitt and the Center for Architecture. Their criticism and poetry can be found in The Long Now Foundation and The Brooklyn Rail.

Ekemini Ekpo is a journalist, researcher, and theater artist seeking to catalyze intellectual and emotional inquiry through these forms. She is currently a resident actor at Mercury Store, a theater development lab in Gowanus and has previously participated in the Vox Media Writers Workshop. She was born and raised in Texas, and her people are from Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria.

Daphne Lundi is an urban planner, policymaker, and artist. The child of Haitian immigrants, and as a native New Yorker who experienced Hurricane Sandy, her work is shaped by the impacts of climate change. As a Public Scholar at The Moynihan Center at CCNY, she has been exploring the intersections between sci-fi and city planning.

Anoushka Mariwala is an architectural designer, researcher, and writer from Mumbai. She is interested in considering the body as a site, producer, and interpreter of place and object. Most recently, she has been thinking about land history, property formation, and its entanglements. She received a Master in Architecture from Columbia GSAPP and a BA in Architecture and Urban Studies from Princeton University.

Philip Poon is an architect, artist, and writer. Informed by his background as a Chinese-American from New York City, his work as a registered architect, and his engagement with art and activist movements in Chinatown, his projects materialize issues at the intersection of space, race, and class. As Dimes Square Tourist, he leads walking tours of Manhattan’s Chinatown.

Shirt is an artist working across writing, rap music, performance, video, photography, painting, and sculpture. Using a bricolage of language, sound and object, he considers ways of unlearning as a means of creating a more expansive readership. His work has recently been published in Source Type.

Join the Forum and The Architectural League for the launch of a new publication and conversation with this year’s New City Critics.

Over the past nine months, the New City Critics have been honing their critical voices, bringing fresh perspectives to the way we understand, design, and develop our cities. In their final projects they trace the city’s ecological peripheries, engage in debates over commemorative monuments, and chart innovative methods of neighborhood observation.

Please join us to celebrate the conclusion of the fellowship and the launch of a new New City Critics publication. At the launch, the six fellows will be in conversation and share insights into their experiences and processes.

The 2024-25 New City Critics fellows are Ellie Botoman, Ekemini Ekpo, Daphne Lundi, Anoushka Mariwala, Philip Poon, and Shirt. This event is hosted by a83 and live streamed via Montez Press Radio.

RSVP
Guest & Accessibility Policies

Urban Design Forum promotes conversations between invited civic leaders, designers, developers, and advocates. This event is open to the general public.

We strive to host inclusive, accessible events that enable all individuals to engage fully.

  • This event will have microphones and speakers.
  • If you’re not feeling well, please stay home. Face masks are encouraged, particularly if you have been recently exposed to colds, flus, or other illness. If you have been exposed to someone who tested positive for COVID-19 in the past 10 days, a high-quality, well-fitting face covering is required at all times.
  • Please refrain from wearing strong fragrances to accommodate guests with allergies or environmental sensitivities.
  • If you have additional needs, we will do our best to accommodate. Please contact rsvp@urbandesignforum.org.
About New City Critics

New City Critics is a fellowship program that empowers new, fearless, and diverse voices to challenge the ways we understand, design, and develop our cities. The fellowship supports the development of five critics from underrepresented backgrounds through guest lectures and workshops, research guidance, mentorship opportunities, networking, and production of new critical projects in Urban Omnibus and other leading publications. Through public programs and other channels, the fellowship encourages a more expansive conversation on the future of cities.

Urban Design Forum promotes conversation between civic leaders, designers, developers and advocates. Forum Fellows are encouraged to invite additional guests to participate. Learn more about becoming a Forum Fellow.

The Architectural League nurtures excellence in architecture, design, and urbanism, and stimulates thinking, debate, and action on the critical design and building issues of our time. Learn more and become a member at archleague.org.

Support Our Work

This year’s program would not be possible without the support of Critical Minded, Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, Joan Copjec, Paul Goldberger, Mark & Carol Willis, Nat Oppenheimer, Mary Margaret Jones and Siqi Zhu. 

We are also grateful to the founding donors of the program: Critical Minded, Mark & Carol Willis, Charles H. Revson Foundation, Graham Foundation, Thom Mayne, Moshe Safdie, Joan Copjec, Paul Goldberger, Eric Owen Moss, Zach Mortice & Maria Speiser, Tami Hausman, Stella Betts, Mary Margaret Jones, Nat Oppenheimer, Deborah Berke, Zach Mortice, Calvin Tsao, Rosalie Genevro, Mario Gooden, Lyn Rice & Astrid Lipka, Karen Stein and Vincent Chang.

Urban Design Forum programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

To learn more about supporting New City Critics, please contact Katherine Sacco at katherine@urbandesignforum.org or donate here.

Image credit:  Manuel Miranda

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