Seminar Building Urban Futures: Research Challenges organized by the Urban Futures Labex

The question of the collective construction of urban futures is raised with force in light of the (interdependent) challenges facing increasingly urbanized contemporary societies: climatic, ecological, health, socio-political, economic, and geopolitical challenges, among others.

 
The epistemological, theoretical, methodological, and political issues involved in the scientific study of this question are considerable, in a context where the sources of scientific legitimacy inherited from modernity are being questioned, the place of researchers in society is evolving, and the knowledge and expertise accepted in public debate (or seeking to gain a foothold there) is becoming increasingly

pluralistic. Collective reflection on these subjects seems all the more relevant given that a growing number of researchers intend to contribute, as researchers, to the advent of futures that they consider desirable (or to the avoidance of undesirable futures). 

The Futurs Urbains Labex therefore decided to organize a seminar devoted to the construction of urban futures and its implications for research, of which this day constitutes the second session.

During this second session, Antoine Picon, Adèle Esposito, Jochen Monstadt, Fabien Esculier, and Marine Legrand will discuss how they encounter and approach the question of the construction of urban futures in their research.

• How do the urban past, present, and future relate to each other?
• How do actors engage in the construction of urban futures? What resources, networks, and visions do they mobilize?
• In particular, can we identify "communities of anticipation" (C. Granjou), i.e., "situated assemblages of practices, sociotechnical infrastructures, and imaginaries" aimed at anticipating, modeling, and simulating futures?
• Are urban futures, and collective futures more generally, largely beyond the control of societies, and a fortiori beyond the control of the actors responsible for (or taking it upon themselves to) construct these futures? If this observation is true, what implications does it have for the construction of urban futures as a subject of research?

Videoconference link

Subject: Building urban futures: session #2 Time:
May 4, 2021, 9:15 a.m. Paris
Join the Zoom meeting: https://univ-eiffel.zoom.us/j/81007137111

Meeting ID: 810 0713 7111 Password: BZR7CTq4