Dreaming Cities

What are the roles of utopian imagination in urban planning? And how much of what we are presented with as official visions of the future and growth strategies is, in fact, also a form of fiction — even when it is framed as fact?

This session explores how we can create more democratic and hopeful visions of the future.

Urban planning is always about imagining something that does not yet exist. Yet the ways we imagine the future are rarely questioned. In this session, we take a closer look at how utopian thinking, narrative and worldbuilding can enable practitioners and citizens to challenge current assumptions — and to open up alternative ways of living and shaping futures together.

We discuss storytelling and narrative prototyping along with different forms of worldbuilding, from participatory workshops to immersive exhibitions and guidebooks to cities not yet built. What critical purchase do they offer on contemporary problems and challenges? What forms of hope can they carry?

The session considers whose futures are being addressed in urban planning and how, while underlining how utopian imagination is not a luxury or a distraction from planning’s work. On the contrary, it is essential to it, if that work is to do more than reproduce what already exists.

Participants

• Paul Graham Raven, writer, researcher and critical creative futures practitioner. With David Pinder (RUC).

Language: English

The session is presented by Roskilde Universitet