Proposes a model of urbanism in which cities and their architecture form earth's second skin, which is constantly subject to change. Suggests that cities - as life forms - have emotions, which are proto-urban conditions that move and grow and contain conflicts that have ripple effects on surrounding environments. Concludes by studying the factors - both human and nonhuman - that produce changes in this second skin. Chora Institute of Architecture and Urbanism, founded in London in 1994, is an academic research institute and an urban planning and city policy think tank.