'Catalogue' of the Living City exhibition at the ICA, published as articles in issue 2 of Living Arts magazine.

FINAL NOTES ON THE LIVING CITY

As an exhibition it has been thought of throughout as an experience and not as a display of data. Rather, it should be taken as the condensation of phenomena in order to create a mood.

As a catalogue this feature in 'Living Arts' has aimed to underline the contents of the exhibition and at the same time to expand on them from the points of view of the various designers. Different individuals have approached 'The Living City' ready to place differing emphasis on the various problems facing us: overpopulation, discomfort, decline, lack of direction, architectural problems, transportation problems and so on. the exhibition has come to the sum of these individual viewpoints - programmed within the gloops for convenience, and the whole has developed by cross-stimulus.

Architecture as such will be less evident than might be expected of a group predominantly architectural - but it must be remembered that the aim of the exhibition is a mood rather than a physical statement.

The time and place - 1963 in London, England - must have an influence upon what is presented. Try, as we have tried, to see beyond this. The crisis facing 'The Living City' here is equally facing Tokyo or Los Angeles.

The exhibition revolves around people, for cities are their creation, and people have created the problems of the city. People's habits and reactions to city situations reflect this basic premise.

The exhibition does not exist in a vacuum and certainly in the minds of its inceptors the situation will have begun to change further by the time the exhibition closes. We all have a positive belief, however, that despite the questionings and challenges implicit in the situation as shown, we can work towards a solution which is of the Living City.

Living Arts Magazine was edited by Theo Crosby and John Bodley. Designed by Gordon House. Published by The Institute of Contemporary Arts in association with Tillotsons (Boulton) Ltd. © 1963.

The front and back covers are from a photograph taken by Robert Freeman of a setting arranged by Richard Hamilton in connection with his "Urbane Image" essay which was also in this publication.

The Living City catalogue which was included in this, the second issue of Living Arts, was produced by members of the Archigram Group, Warren Chalk, Peter Cook, Dennis Crompton, David Greene, Ron Herron and Michael Webb with Ben Fether and Peter Taylor.