New City Books is a joint publishing imprint of the Syracuse University School of Architecture and Princeton Architectural Press that explores architecture, landscape architecture, infrastructure, and planning in the redevelopment of the civic realm. Pentagram has designed the series, which highlights the formative nature of innovative design and makes a case for strategies that spur widespread support of reurbanization in American cities.
While the five books in the series are united by the topical thread of urban redevelopment and design, the content of each book is highly specific in its own right. Rather than applying the same design elements across the series, each book is distinguished by its own set of display typefaces for titles, heading, and the body copy, as well as a unique spine color that alludes to the information within. The New City Books wordmark is set in the same typeface as the copy within the corresponding book.
Formerly Urban: Projecting Rust Belt Futures is a collection of essays compiled by Julia Czerniak, grounded in the belief that design is central to the revitalization of shrinking American cities. The cover text is set in Dala Floda, the body is set in Lyon Text, and the rust-colored spine is inspired by the book's focus on the American Rust Belt.
Modern American Housing: Hi-Rise, Reuse, Infill is a presentation of the latest developments in re-urbanizing American cities, with a focus on three primary forms of design and construction in the new housing sector. Edited by Peggy Tully, the book wears a blue spine, with a title set in Titling Gothic Condensed and body set in Ideal Sans.
A second book also edited by Tully, From the Ground Up: Innovative Green Homes uses the strong Beckett and Grot10 typefaces by A2 for the titles and copy, respectively. The book covers an international competition to create new models for affordable high-performance green homes in Syracuse's vacant infill site in the Near Westside neighborhood.
In addition to sharing a grid, the books share a common caption type, Graphik, and each book is clothbound with debossed titles. More information on the New City Books series can be found on the Princeton Architectural Press website.
