7 Using city foresight methods to develop city visions
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Timothy J. Dixon
Abstract
In the previous chapters of this book, we have seen, in an increasingly urbanised world, how our perspectives of cities and the narratives we deploy to explain them have shifted, morphed and evolved over time. Cities are hugely important today and have through many centuries led to diverse and rich explorations of idealised futures through art, literature and film. This has led to visionaries in planning and architecture framing new futures for our cities and, as climate change and environmental issues become important in a pervasive digitised and globalised world, the concepts of ‘smart cities’ and ‘sustainable cities’ have found growing interest across the world.
However, if cities and the people who live, work and play in them are to have a say in both how the urban future unfolds and what our real-world cities should look like in 2050 and beyond, then we need to understand the processes by which this could be achieved. The next two chapters are designed to offer a practical guide on how city visions can be developed through participatory-based foresight methods, and how new projects and experiments can help to transform cities and lead to a sustainable (and smart) future. This is a fundamental part of what we term ‘urban futures’ and recognises complexity and the need to manage a transition to a shared and desirable future.
In this chapter, we will look in more detail therefore at what city foresight really means in practice, how we define a ‘city vision’ and how such a vision can be developed with a range of techniques, including visioning and backcasting.
Abstract
In the previous chapters of this book, we have seen, in an increasingly urbanised world, how our perspectives of cities and the narratives we deploy to explain them have shifted, morphed and evolved over time. Cities are hugely important today and have through many centuries led to diverse and rich explorations of idealised futures through art, literature and film. This has led to visionaries in planning and architecture framing new futures for our cities and, as climate change and environmental issues become important in a pervasive digitised and globalised world, the concepts of ‘smart cities’ and ‘sustainable cities’ have found growing interest across the world.
However, if cities and the people who live, work and play in them are to have a say in both how the urban future unfolds and what our real-world cities should look like in 2050 and beyond, then we need to understand the processes by which this could be achieved. The next two chapters are designed to offer a practical guide on how city visions can be developed through participatory-based foresight methods, and how new projects and experiments can help to transform cities and lead to a sustainable (and smart) future. This is a fundamental part of what we term ‘urban futures’ and recognises complexity and the need to manage a transition to a shared and desirable future.
In this chapter, we will look in more detail therefore at what city foresight really means in practice, how we define a ‘city vision’ and how such a vision can be developed with a range of techniques, including visioning and backcasting.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- List of figures, tables and boxes iv
- Acknowledgements vi
- Foreword vii
- Preface ix
- Urban futures: planning for city foresight and city visions 1
- Cities and integrated urban challenges 17
- Reimagining the city: views of the future from the past and present 41
- Planning and governing the future city 65
- Future narratives for the city: smart and sustainable? 79
- Theoretical approaches to urban futures 101
- Using city foresight methods to develop city visions 123
- Shaping the future: city vision case studies 153
- The innovative and experimental city 181
- Visioning and planning the city in an urban age: a reality check 201
- Conclusions: facing the urban future to 2050 and beyond 217
- Appendix: selected examples of city visions 233
- Notes 239
- References 241
- Index 283
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- List of figures, tables and boxes iv
- Acknowledgements vi
- Foreword vii
- Preface ix
- Urban futures: planning for city foresight and city visions 1
- Cities and integrated urban challenges 17
- Reimagining the city: views of the future from the past and present 41
- Planning and governing the future city 65
- Future narratives for the city: smart and sustainable? 79
- Theoretical approaches to urban futures 101
- Using city foresight methods to develop city visions 123
- Shaping the future: city vision case studies 153
- The innovative and experimental city 181
- Visioning and planning the city in an urban age: a reality check 201
- Conclusions: facing the urban future to 2050 and beyond 217
- Appendix: selected examples of city visions 233
- Notes 239
- References 241
- Index 283
