'In th juggernaut knoeledge industry, too lttle attention is paid to what knowledge really does. Engaged Urbanism provides creative methodological tools for supporting these actions, drawing out unanticipated, neglected and suppressed resources from even the mundane, opaque or desperate places. In putting all our sensory capacities to work , it offers evidence of the efficacy of methodological inventio and demonstrates the possibilities researchers, activists, service providers, and policymakers everywhere have available to deepen their understandings of urban life and to work creatively with what is available to them. Partecipatory photography, art installations, data and spatial mapping, collective writing, undercover detection, longitudinal documentation, public performance, digital reconstruction, and community mobilizaion are all deployed to enliven our capacities to know the urban with greater rigor and enthusiasm, as well as an appreciation for the heterogeneity of conditions and "inhabitants" that surround us'. - Professor AbdouMaliq Simone, author of City Life From Jakarta to Dakar: Movements al the Crossroads.l
