What We Want

Social landscape has always evolved in a way that is more or less autochtonous, with little regard for political strategies concerning the territory. Recently things have changed. People have become more conscious of the fact that the environment in which we spend our days is at our own disposal. This recent condition has sharpened our ability to “perform” spaces effectively creating a landscape that exists as a projection of our own desires.
The accumulation of these actions—repeated infinitely on a large or small scale—allows people to impress their will upon the surrounding territory by transforming the form and significance of the places in question.
What We Want is a compelling project that the photographer Francesco Jodice started in 1997; it is an atlas of social and urban behaviour seen through 100 photographs taken in over 50 metropolises. The book is a compilation of colour photographs, writings, and maps—created by renowned architects—that describe an urban geography modified by new pioneers.

Architect and photographer Francesco Jodice’s artistic research deals with the relations between new social behaviour and the transformation of the contemporary urban landscape.
He is a founding member of Multiplicity and has taught at the Berlage Institute Amsterdam / Tokyo and the Visual Art University in Bozen.