Description
Book SynopsisWhat might our cities look like in ten, twenty or fifty years? How may future cities face global challenges? Imagining the city of the future has long been an inspiration for many architects, artists and designers. This book examines how cities of the future have been visualised, 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 visualisation techniques and ideologies for cities. Thinking about what futures are, who they are for, why they are desirable, and how and when they are to be brought into being is central to this book. Through visualisation we are able to experiment in ways that would be impractical and potentially hazardous in the real world, and this book, therefore, aims to contribute toward a better understanding of the power and agency of visualisations for future cities. In this lavishly illustrated text, the authors apply several critical le
Trade ReviewImages of future cities are one of the most revealing ways in which hopes, fears and plans about the future are imagined. This wonderful book brings together images of urban futures from a wide range of places, disciplines, histories, media and genres, to dizzying effect. Whether you make images of urban futures, you're interested in studying them, or you're a fascinated spectator, this book is an essential, imaginative, provocative and above all generous resource for thinking about how and why to picture future cities. * Gillian Rose, Professor of Human Geography, University of Oxford, UK *
We conceive of the future via the images we make of it. This lavishly illustrated visual history of the city is a powerful reminder of the influence of images on our thinking about the future. It is an asset in times when we need to scan the probable, the possible and the preferable futures that lie ahead. A wonderful and valuable resource. * Maarten Hajer, Professor of Urban Futures, Utrecht University, the Netherlands *
Table of ContentsList of Figures List of Tables Preface Acknowledgements 1. Introduction: futures, imagination, and visions for cities 2. Cities of Vision: a visual history of the future 3. Rendering Tomorrow: the impact of visualisation techniques 4. Technological Futures: optimism, science fiction, and infrastructural systems 5. Social Futures: experiments, ephemerality, and experiences 6. Global Futures: challenges and opportunities for collective life 7. Tomorrow’s Cities Today: conclusions and alternative futures References
