the different perspectives on what the future of the urban should be and what it requires. This digest looks at books published between 2020 and 2022 that systematically address the phenomenon of the City of the Future.
Elizaveta Zakharova
PhD student, Department of Social Sciences, National Research University Higher School of Economics
Many of the terms used in the contemporary conversation about development and the future came into use at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, in the situation of growing awareness of the transition to a post-industrial society. For example, such concepts as creative economy, creative city, and creative industries are emerging. Creative solutions to big societal problems are bringing forth new products and services, and setting up a new system of social interactions. The modern city demonstrates new types of economic relationships and innovations in the technology and business. Thus, it is becoming essential to involve a large number of talented and competent people in a variety of fields in the development and innovation processes.
Among the trends shaping the new social fabric of the cities of the future are an increased participation of residents in decision-making processes, the growing importance of creative industries, and the emergence of new challenges to the spatial development of urbanized areas and to ensuring inclusiveness and sustainability. There is a growing interest in a circular economy with greener technology, progressive building codes, and an awareness of the implications for social inequality.
The city of the future is an interdisciplinary object of study. The processes of thinking and designing urban development involve a variety of specialists, from architects and designers to environmentalists and journalists, who offer important insights into social change, the impact of technology and the environment, and propose specific development projects. Some authors use retrospective analysis of visual representations of the future of the cities and their ideologies, suggesting the design of cities of the future. Other innovators are constructing an architectural future based not only on climate change, population density, infrastructure, and transportation, but also on digital culture. A number of works are devoted to the study of specific regions or even countries, which are not only focused on the development of the cities and their future, but also present a methodological analysis in the field of urban studies. The question of social equality and how it can be achieved through urban planning and sustainability policies has become an important component of the recent years’ works.
1. THE FUTURE CITY: VISIONARY ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN
Book, 2021, Lannoo Publishers
Alyn Griffiths
This book introduces pioneering architects, designers and planners whose visions for an alternative urban future address issues such as climate change, population density, infrastructure, transportation and digital culture. It includes over 40 radical projects grouped into five key categories: master planning and megacities, transportation and infrastructure, new habitats, green cities / urban farming, and smart cities.
Each category summarizes trends that will drive the development of future cities, with each project representing a unique approach to urban development in the 21st century and beyond.
https://clck.ru/32dHss
2. FUTURE CITIES LABORATORY INDICIA
Book series, 2017-2019-2021, Lars Müller Publishers
Stephen Cairns, Devisari Tunas, ETH Zürich / Singapore-ETH Centre
Future Cities Laboratory reports on the same named research program and its mission to shape sustainable future cities through science, by design, in place. It offers a global perspective on cities from the vantage point of the world’s most populous and rapidly urbanizing continent: Asia, which also acts as the base of the laboratory. The first volume illustrates the richness and diversity of research at the Future Cities Laboratory (FCL). The book, the first in a series, describes new processes and types of data that are being used to understand and improve cities. The second volume in the Future Cities Lab series focuses on the tools, methods, and approaches needed for urban research. The third and final volume in the Indicia book series presents the results of the Future Cities Laboratory research program in the form of actions for sustainable city-making.
https://clck.ru/32dHvv
3. CITIES OF THE FUTURE: SPATIAL DEVELOPMENT, PARTICIPATORY DEVELOPMENT, AND CREATIVE INDUSTRIES
Monograph, 2021, DELO Publishing House
RANEPA authoring team
This collective monograph is dedicated to the contemporary trends in urban development, which establish the new look and social fabric of cities of the future: the increased resident participation in decision-making on a wide range of issues pertaining to urban life, the increasing role of creative economy and creative industries, the challenges and limitations of spatial development of urbanized territories.
https://clck.ru/32dHea
4. THE NEW NORMAL
Book, 2020, Park Books
Benjamin Bratton, Nicolay Boyadjiev, Nick Axel
"The New Normal" is a global English-language study of the planetary impact of technology on the future of the cities in Russia and the world. Ninety interdisciplinary researchers from thirty different countries and more than forty faculty members from such fields as architecture, information technology, philosophy, art, film making, economics, etc. took part in the study. They study not only the way the future of the cities looks like, but also the way it is set up; the circulation of ideas, values and the power.
https://clck.ru/32dJNh
5. FUTURE CITIES: A VISUAL GUIDE
Guidebook, 2020, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Dunn, Nick, Cureton, Dr Paul (Lancaster University, UK)
This book examines how cities of the future have been visualized, what these projects sought to communicate and what the implications may be for us now. It provides a visual history of the future and explores the relationships between different visualization techniques and ideologies for cities. The authors apply several critical lenses to consider the subject in different ways: technological futures, social futures, and global futures, providing a comprehensive survey and analysis of visions for future cities, and engaging creatively with how we perceive tomorrow’s world and future studies more widely.
