Photo: Pěšky městem / Jan Hromádko
CITY FOR EVERYONE!
A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO URBANISM
A CRASH COURSE IN URBAN PLANNING discussing pressing issues facing current cities from suburbanisation and neglect of public space to the shrinking cities phenomenon, environmental degradation and the absence of political direction. The city is a fascinating human invention that is now home to most people on our planet. How should we understand all the city’s complexities and fragilities? This course and manual of urbanism for beginners shows how the great anthill of humanity works and what opportunities it grants; it also discusses problems faced by cities today. Urban planning is a game of strategy that teaches us how to live in a shared space in an attitude of respect for others. By getting involved, HAVE A SAY ABOUT YOUR FUTURE!
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Publications
How do we READ a city? How do we learn to view a city critically? In just 14 chapters of the City for Everyone manual for beginners you will learn about the most pressing urban related challenges of our times.
BOOK PUBLISHERS:
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Multimedia Art
By means of use of a live video, 3D animations and YouTube formats, in the Virtual Ritual performance you will UNVEIL hidden links between real and virtual cities set at the backdrop of a growing gaming industry.
FESTIVAL ORGANIZERS:
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Education
Are you completely satisfied with the place where you live? A hands-on workshop or an on-line course consists of four consecutive parts. Introductory provocation, city reading, urban laboratory and CALL FOR ACTION.
URBAN ACTIVISTS & SCHOOLS:
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Lectures
A city is a community of people. It is formed by the will of its inhabitants, who DECIDE that they wish to live together and perceive this decision as beneficial for them. But what the urbanism and art can do for us?
DECISION-MAKERS & PUBLIC:
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Consulting
Do you want to IMPROVE your city and increase its livability? My main focus is the quality of urban life! Whether you are looking for an experienced member of the competition jury or just advice on the best way to get started.
MUNICIPALITIES & INDIVIDUALS:
NEWS
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How Can We Change the Cities of Chemnitz and Frankfurt for the Better?
After an April 2024 spring series of hands-on urban planning workshops in Chemnitz-Sonenberg, in cooperation with Taupunkt OFF-Bühne KOMPLEX, in the fall of 2024 the Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM) in Frankfurt am Main will show models and texts by the Czech trio of urban planners and artists Osamu Okamura, David Böhm, and Jiri Franta. Their publication…
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The Japan Institute of Architects Magazine – Interview with Osamu Okamura
An in-depth twelve-page profile interview with architect Osamu Okamura was published in the January 2024 issue of the monthly JIA MAGAZINE NO. 418, the journal of The Japan Institute of Architects. His personal history and early childhood at Tokyo and Prague public housing projects. Study in the post-communist Eastern European Czechoslovakia, and his own architectural,…
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Tokyo for Everyone Needs Tokyo Architecture Center
Japan is an important economic power, with the third largest GDP in the world, but it is somewhat surprisingly in 34th place in terms of GDP per capita. In the World Happiness Index, which tracks people’s satisfaction with their own lives, Japan even ranks 47th, far behind Guatemala (43rd) and Kazakhstan (44th). So, what exactly…
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Competition Jury Member: Ósaka EXPO 2025
On October 12, 2023, an architectural exhibition titled “Czech Pavilion EXPO 2025: Architectural Designs” commenced at the National Museum in Prague. 🇨🇿🇯🇵 This showcase of contemporary Czech architecture presents visitors with all 38 architectural designs that competed in March 2023 for the unique opportunity to design the national pavilion for the upcoming World EXPO that…
Buy the book “CITY FOR EVERYONE” in the E-SHOP by clicking on the corresponding language version below
PROFILE
I’m Osamu Okamura, architect & author Die Stadt für alle (City for Everyone)
DAM Architectural Book Award 2022 & Bologna Ragazzi Award: New Horizons 2021. Liveability, urban planning and architecture interpretation, education & consulting. Fair, sustainable, resilient.
My main focus is liveability in cities and its interpretation. Visiting Professor at the Tokyo University of Science (2023). Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Architecture of the Technical University in Liberec (2019–23). Member of the Committee for Development of Urbanism, Architecture and Public Spaces of the Prague 7 City District Authority (2015–21). Chair (2019–21) and member (2021–22) of the Prague City Council Committee for Art in Public Spaces. Curator of the final output of the European project Shared Cities: Creative Momentum, on better sharing in cities (2015–2019); series of animated films and Virtual Ritual theatre performance. Member of the board of trustees of the Czech Architecture Foundation (2015–2020). Programme director of reSITE, an international festival and conference on more liveable cities (2013–2017). Editor-in-chief of the professional architecture magazine ERA21 (2005–2012), now a member of its editorial board. Since 2008, official nominator of the Mies van der Rohe Award (the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture).
Juror in numerous architecture and urbanism competitions, including Ósaka EXPO 2025 Czech Pavilion, Košice Airport Logistic Park Development Plan (SK), Prague Airport Development Plan, Papírové Square in Liberec Development Plan, New Prague Rohan Elementary School etc.
The book City for Everyone: A Manual of Urbanism for Beginners, illustrated by David Böhm and Jiří Franta, was awarded the DAM Architectural Book Award 2022 (DE) and the Bologna Ragazzi: New Horizons 2021 award (IT). It was published in German, Simplified Chinese and Czech; Japanese, Korean and Russian versions are on the way.
Fulbright-Masaryk Awardee at the Chicago Architecture Foundation (now Chicago Architecture Center / US), with a special focus on programmes for young people (2018). New Europe 100 Outstanding Challenger from Central and Eastern Europe (2014).
I’m currently based in Prague.
AWARDS
REVIEWS
»Anyone who is interested in the city as a living space and wants to know everything about the development, planning, present and future of cities has come to the right place!«
Der Standard, Austria
»An extraordinarily creative non-fiction picture book about urban development.«
Eva-Christina Meier in the taz, Germany
»The book makes you want to go to the city. The book was rightly awarded the DAM prize for the best architecture books last week.«
Christian Holl, Marlowes, Germany
»This first lesson in urban planning should be required reading for representatives of the self-government of all cities, who deal with the development of settlements on a daily basis and decide on their future.«
Markéta Pražanová, Bulletin of the Czech Chamber of Architects, Czech Republic