A collaborative session that imagine how locally-developed efforts for a sustainable and inclusive city might shape its landscape in the near future. –  by Hugo Pilate

Context:

It is imperative that our cities become radically more sustainable and inclusive.  Many entrepreneurial citizens have taken matters into their own hands and set on this path by organizing local programs, prototyped innovations in their garages, and started to create answers to the challenges our cities are facing. However, these have a tendency of being a little technical, or technological, if not dull from a human perspective so we’ll kick off our workshop by asking, “What makes a city habitable?”

Workshop:

The workshop aims to create a sandbox environment in which participants can imagine their own cities and re-enchant their understanding of what a city is. To do that, we’ll use the Cryptic Cities story generator to help us bridge the surreal with the practical. The aim is to challenge ourselves to see cities as story-enebling platforms, ecosystems designed to make your life worth-living, this covers quality of life but also enchantment of life. Working in pairs we will dream big while also learning about different individuals and activists working towards improving life for their community and see how their experience can inform our own neighborhoods.

Activities:

The workshop will last three hours during which we will use a mix of online tools (concept generators, online databases, and Miro) to cocreate uniquely personal interpretations of fictional cities. Think of it like visual improv. No technical experience is required to join the session but we highly encourage you to come with an open mind and an open heart!

You can expect to leave the workshop with a new set of collaborative tools under your belt, a new array of surreal cityscapes, and a community driven by a desire to weave the practical and the surreal to help craft healthier futures.

About the facilitator:

Hugo has been experimenting with online collaborations for the past few years using video games, creative coding, and readily available platforms to put together engaging and rewarding creative experiences.

Find out more about his work on crafting alternative futures (which this workshop will be based on) in the talk below.