Abstract: The way we live is designed by the material world that we designed: a world we were born into and which is the only one we know (Fry 2008). However, it is now clear that in order to tackle unprecedented challenges, that very world and our interactions with it need to be questioned and radically redesigned, particularly in cities, where most of us now live. Utopian thinking in a time when urgent action is needed might seem indulgent, but I argue it is an effective way to explore new optimistic possibilities for our daily life (and go beyond what we are familiar with), generate ideas, and most importantly map values and priorities. In design, this is known as a divergent step of the process, in which we create choices; it sets the scene for subsequent convergent moments, in which choices are made. A key aspect of divergence is that disagreements and contradictions are allowed and brave ideas are encouraged. As a designer, I am interested in creating platforms enabling this involvement in envisioning divergent utopias. Some of the key issues I am exploring in my research include: what are the conditions that need to be in place, and “how much” should we design? Who are the possible actors in this process? How best to capture the conversations in order for these utopias to become generative tools? In this presentation I will show some examples of creative conversations in which participants reflect on the future by envisioning imaginary cities and communities. In describing each example I will unpick the processes and techniques that are used and what they can afford. Finally, I will outline how I am applying this approach and some of the principles described in the examples to ongoing activities of design research and practice. (Full text available on request)

1. DIVERGING UTOPIAS
designing conversations on futures and cities.
Serena Pollastri - Lancaster University

2. - 80% urban population

3. - 80% urban population
- climate change

4. - 80% urban population
- climate change
- unprecedented challenges.

5. - 80% urban population
- climate change
- unprecedented challenges.
- “Smart Cities”
Image: Foster+Partners, Masdar Development

7. “What would be ways to
articulate collisions, instead
of avoiding them?”
http://blogs.lgru.net/collision/?page_id=2

8. VISUAL CONVERSATIONS
ON URBAN FUTURES

9. _subjectivefutures.wordpress.com

10. _subjectivefutures.wordpress.com
visual
reports
games
platforms
little
magazines

11. self produced, self-published, independent magazines that
the creators distribute by themselves (Duncombe, 1997).
independent architectural publications that responded to
social, political, artistic changes of the period
(Colomina, 2010)
_zines
_little magazines

12. _Utopie,
Sociologie de l’urbain

13. _Utopie,
Sociologie de l’urbain

14. _colonne critique

15. “the fact that the critical column
reacted to the text or the drawing
was good; it produced fights,
overlaps, critiques, everything
you can imagine”
(Jean Aubert, 2010)
_colonne critique

16. ...in which players speculate on alternative urban
futures. To play critically means “to create or occupy play
environments and activities that represent one or more
questions about aspects of human life” (Flanagan, 2009)
_critical play

17. _Buckminster Fuller
World Game

18. _alternate reality games:
World without Oil

19. _collaborative game
SYMTACTICS!

20. visualisation as both a process and an artefact.
Use of visual language: a type of language that is able to
describe data or ideas that are complex and/or have a non-
linear structure.
Visualisations as “thinking and reasoning aid”
(Cross 1999, 32).
_platforms

21. _imaginary guidelines

22. _imaginary guidelines

23. visualisation as both a process and an artefact.
Use of visual language: a type of language that is able to
describe data or ideas that are complex and/or have a non-
linear structure.
make ideas mobile, immutable, presentable, readable and
combinable. (Latour 1998)
_visual reports

24. _Lancaster as a sharing city
making sharing visible and tangible

25. _Lancaster as a sharing city

26. _practical questions

27. _conclusions

28. _conclusions
- Reclaim the “vision”

29. _conclusions
- Reclaim the “vision”
- the world we designed designs
us. We take the world we are born
into to be the world itself (Fry,
2008 reading Bordieu)

30. _conclusions
- Reclaim the “vision”
- the world we designed designs
us. We take the world we are born
into to be the world itself (Fry,
2008 reading Bordieu)
- imaginary reconstruction of
society (Levitas)

31. _conclusions
- Reclaim the “vision”
- the world we designed designs
us. We take the world we are born
into to be the world itself (Fry,
2008 reading Bordieu)
- imaginary reconstruction of
society (Levitas)
- as part of scenario building
“communicative artifacts produced
to further the social conversation
about what to do” (Manzini, 2015)

32. _conclusions
- Reclaim the “vision”
- the world we designed designs
us. We take the world we are born
into to be the world itself (Fry,
2008 reading Bordieu)
- imaginary reconstruction of
society (Levitas)
- as part of scenario building
“communicative artifacts produced
to further the social conversation
about what to do” (Manzini, 2015)
- real > impossible > possible
(Lefebvre)

33. THANK YOU.
subjectivefutures.wordpress.com
Serena Pollastri - Lancaster University
s.pollastri@lancaster.ac.uk
@sere_miru