How Futuristic Renderings Fail Future Cities

Pushing back on a version of futurism that imagines cities as a collection of iconic structures devoid of people and interactions.

1 minute read

July 9, 2015, 6:00 AM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


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"The current trajectory of urbanization and city-building is not going to get us where we need to go," writes Ethan Kent. "In fact, if you google 'The Future of Cities,' the images that come up reflect a dominant vision, and a caricatured extrapolation of what is currently being built in the 'most developed' human settlements."

Those caricatures are the impetus for the Future of Places program, led by UN-Habitat and the Project for Public Spaces. The program, as described by the post, wants to shift the thinking about the future of cities away from objects and toward places.

The remainder of the article provides resources and recommendations for how such effects can be achieved, calling especially on past research and products from the Project for Public Spaces.

Monday, June 29, 2015 in Project For Public Spaces

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