The city for the future we want (Talk)

Creating the city for the future we want – Keynote und interaktives Gespräch mit Charles Landry und Robyn Bennett (eng)

Our economic order and way of life is materially expansive, socially divisive and environmentally hostile and a business as usual approach will not get us to where we need to be.

Our crises, often dark and gloomy, can be an opportunity to provide a gateway from one world to the next as new agendas are coming together in unprecedented ways. There is a mood and a movement emerging. We are seeing the possibility of creating a different world driven on other principles. It can be a compelling story.

Think eco-principles and the green transition, the circular economy, new forms of mobility, new concepts like resilience or co-creation and the participatory imperative and not to forget a digitizing world that at its best runs through our systems like electricity in its inventiveness. Together it is all transformative. Perhaps it can become a rebirth – a kind of Renaissance. We cannot allow ourselves to feel exhausted. If you take a helicopter view there are a mass of projects that signal where we need to go. The task is to design a city for a Planet B even though our existing Planet A – needs dramatically retrofitting too.

Time is short to make the big difference and driving this change are many – politicians, activists, civil society, researchers, inventors, artists, entrepreneurs, business, writers and more. We need to harness their collective talents, will, energy, intelligence and resources to create a more human centred world based on one planet living. Yet, we need some picture, image or compelling story of that desirable future city. This is the picture we want to jointly discuss with you.

Charles Landry works with cities around the world to help them make the most of their potential and facilitates complex urban change projects. His aim is to connect the triad culture, creativity and city making. He is co-founder of the Creative Bureaucracy Festival. He has published extensively. Most recently The Civic City in a Nomadic World, The Creative Bureaucracy (with Margie Caust), An Advanced Introduction to the Creative City, Psychology & the City (with Chris Murray) and The Digitized City. www.charleslandry.com