The Average as Norm is a multi-voiced, critical analysis of valorization processes in Zurich, a city that struggles to cope with the pressure of rising real estate prices, and other European metropolises that are feeling the effects of neoliberal urban policy. The starting point for the book was a sculptural work by Michael Meier and Christoph Franz, who shaped a 1100 kg crane weight from the construction debris of a demolished workers' house, which has since been used at a construction site in Zurich. The artists invited authors from architecture, urban planning, and urbanism to reflect on the phenomenon of average-ness in contemporary construction processes. The book is to be understood as an "object," like the formed concrete weight, where an artistic work relates to urban discourses in its aesthetics, economy, and content structure.