Forward Looking Analysis of Grand Societal cHallenges and Innovative Policies

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Publications

Report on territorial impact projections. FLAGSHIP Project Report D7.2

Publication . Lüer, C.; Böhme, K.; Jæger, S.; Hans, S.; Madeira, N.; Holstein, F.; Toptsidou, M.; Tulumello, Simone; Bina, Olivia; Ferrão, João

The FLAGSHIP project addresses forward-looking methodologies in relation to Grand Societal Challenges and aims to develop tools and model frameworks beyond the state of the art. For a discussion of Grand Societal Challenges and their impacts on Europe’s future development, Europe’s territorial diversity needs to be taken into consideration because different regions and cities are affected by different challenges and the degree to which they are affected differs. This report therefore discusses interdependencies between Grand Societal Challenges and territorial governance. It presents the work conducted for work package 7 of the FLAGSHIP project and intends to answer the following questions: - Which trends will affect the future development of Europe’s cities and regions? - What will the European territory look like in 2050 under the assumptions of the Perseverance and the Metamorphosis Visions? - How can territorial governance respond to the various challenges and their impacts? - How much can territorial governance contribute to Europe’s ability to better cope with the main challenges and their impacts?

2015Report

Open access

Fear, Space and Urban Planning. A Critical Perspective from Southern Europe

Publication . Tulumello, Simone

This book examines the phenomenon of urban fear – the increasing anxiety over crime and violence in Western cities despite their high safety – with a view to developing a comprehensive, critical, exploratory theory of fear, space, and urban planning that unravels the paradoxes of their mutual relations. By focusing especially on the southern European cities of Palermo and Lisbon, the book also aims to expand upon recent studies on urban geopolitics, enriching them from the perspective of ordinary, as opposed to global, cities. Readers will find enlightening analysis of the ways in which urban fear is (re)produced, including by misinformative discourses on security and fear and the political construction of otherness as a means of exclusion. The spatialization of fear, e.g., through fortification, privatization, and fragmentation, is explored, and the ways in which urban planning is informed by and has in turn been shaping urban fear are investigated. A concluding chapter considers divergent potential futures and makes a call for action. The book will appeal to all with an interest in whether, and to what extent, the production of ‘fearscapes’, the contemporary landscapes of fear, constitutes an emergent urban political economy.

2017Book

Restricted access

Beyond techno-utopia and its discontents: On the role of utopianism and speculative fiction in shaping alternatives to the smart city imaginary

Publication . Bina, Olivia; Inch, Andy; Pereira, Lavínia

In recent years, the ösmart city’ has become established in policy and planning discourse, embedding visions of an urban future where ubiquitous technology offers efficient solutions to the pathologies of the contemporary city. In response, a rapidly growing social-scientific literature is critically exploring how the smart city imaginary (SCI) promotes ötechno-utopian’ fantasies, ignoring the risks of a technologically determined future. In this paper we begin by considering SCI as emblematic of the colonization of contemporary (urban) futures by vested interests, arguing for the need for diverse and plural imaginaries and thus for a re-engagement of the social sciences. We explore how critical social scientific contributions to shaping futures might be deepened through further engagement with utopian theory and speculative fiction, two traditions of future-orientated thinking that seek to combine critique with constructive thinking about alternatives. We therefore contribute to ö50 + 50 Theme 2: Framing Futures in 2068-the limits of and opportunities for futures research’ by 1) extending critique of contemporary claims about (smart urban) futures, and; 2) exploring how utopianism and fiction can expand ways of thinking, imagining and knowing futures.

2020Journal article

Restricted access