Criticism Now: Where next for writing on the city? @TheHarvardGSD

Uploaded March 2026 | Updated September 2026, 11 hours ago

This panel discussion brings together five of the most prominent architecture critics and writers from across the US to discuss the evolving role and future direction of criticism today.
Critics of the built environment have become an endangered species. Countless column inches are devoted to film, TV, music, theatre and books, yet the one discipline that no-one can escape goes woefully under-scrutinised. Ever fewer newspapers and magazines employ architecture critics, while the internet is awash with sponsored content and regurgitated press releases. In an underfunded media landscape, PR companies increasingly control the message, blocking probing eyes from access, and dictating who gets to publish, and for whom. Has criticism lost its way? How can we restore its urgency, engage new audiences, hold power to account, and shine a spotlight on the forces that are shaping the built environment, for better and worse?

Speakers:

Mark Lamster, The Dallas Morning News, Loeb Fellow 2017
Alexandra Lange, Bloomberg CityLab, Loeb Fellow 2014
Thomas de Monchaux, New York Review of Architecture, n+1
Anjulie Rao, Dwell, The Architect’s Newspaper, Chicago Review of Architecture
Mimi Zeiger, Azure, Los Angeles Review of Architecture, Architectural Review
Chaired by Oliver Wainwright, The Guardian, Loeb Fellow 2026
This event is a collaboration between the Loeb Fellowship, GSD, and MIT.

Criticism Now: Where next for writing on the city?

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