FutureOverflow!
Six theses for the future of the city
If there is one thing to be taken from 2020, it’s that our ideas about tomorrow usually reveal much more about ourselves than they do about the future.
Over the past months, we have all been bombarded with countless outlooks, forecasts, analyses and projections. We have heard about probabilities, growth rates and discussed avoidable and unavoidable consequences. And in the process, we‘ve been confronted with endless data, key figures and (often contradictory) facts. You could say that
Ever since Corona, there is a future surplus.
Ironically, however, 2021 — and everything that comes after — remains a big black box. Despite all the prospects and appeals, the future remains more uncertain than ever before. Politics, society and the economy are driving by sight: new rules for the next two weeks, cancelled and postponed dates and events, planning uncertainty for the foreseeable future. Overflowing speculations and yet very few ideas about the effects of just the coming weeks. How does that fit together?
We believe it helps to be remind ourselves that any look into the future always tells us more about our wishes and perspectives in the present than about the future itself. And with this knowledge, talking about the future makes new sense: It’s no longer about predicting what will happen — but about better understanding where we come from, what we want to strive for, and how this can be achieved. And that just works best in a dialog:
For months now, we have been having discussions with public servants and practitioners in all kinds of urban organizations to this end: City councils and research institutes, NGOs, medium-sized companies and international organizations. On this basis, we have outlined six theses that invite us to take a stand toward them and to ask ourselves together how desirable such futures are — and what this means for the present.
➫ Curious? All theses can be found right here!
You’re invited!
We want to go one step further and talk about it. Together: On October 30th, we invite partners, friends and experts to join us in small working groups to discuss these futures in greater depth and link them to our everyday realities. While we will be having by small light weight spotlights on projects and initiatives by our guests, the day will be almost no remote-talking-head event, and packed with small-scale working sessions. To give you an idea, we are looking forward to a day (from 9am–4pm, Berlin time) that features:
- a discussion on current and future challenges for the joint exploration, learning and networking of innovative urban concepts with Justyna Król, Coordinator of the City Experiment Fund at UNDP
- a chat on Digital Sovereignty as a basis for capable public institutions and an active civil society with Resa Mohabbat Kar of the Fraunhofer Institute and Katharina Meyer, Head of Research at the Open Knowledge Foundations’ Prototype Fund
- a field report on challenges in providing, discussing, and understanding real-time public data with Bart Rosseau, Information Officer of the City of Ghent and Hanna Harris, Chief Design Office of the City of Helsinki
- a journey into experimental and speculative research on scaling urban commons at the interface of design, tech, and economy with Dr Viktor Bedö of the Critical Media Lab Basel
Another remote conf? OMG, pls don’t...
We hear you! After much experience with remote events in recent months, we have decided on a much smaller, very personal format in order to allow for actual conversations (we’re talking 3–5 pax in a session, no hour-long presentations, and an actual workshop atmosphere). In order to make sure that works and is worthwhile for everyone involved, we’re strictly limiting and matching the community for the day. That means while you’re more than invited to join us and apply right here, we’ll reserving the time to get back to asap and fill in the remaining spots with a crowd that is as diverse and interdisciplinary as possible.
We can’t we to kick things off and spend a day full of ideas, inspiration and new perspectives! Onward!
The Hybrid City Lab is the Urban and Public Design studio of zero360.
