All Things Urban

The Urban Futures Studio organises an annual ‘mixed classroom course’, an exciting new form of education for policymakers, artists, activists and students. The aim of this course is to give participants an understanding of the techniques developed for knowing and anticipating the future in view of the planetary crisis of the 21st century. Participation in this course offers UU master’s students the possibility to reflect on possible and desirable futures and gain hands-on experience in connecting ideas to action in collaboration with policymakers and citizens, on topics that are both scientifically innovative and societally urgent. Policy makers and citizens have the chance to look at their work from a new perspective and explore the power of techniques of futuring and creative forms of citizen engagement in addressing societal challenges. Participants will study and reflect on existing and new practices like scenario planning, back casting, design thinking and science fiction.

This year’s Mixed Classroom will bring together policy makers, master’s students, artists and activists to imagine the good life in a post-fossil world. As a critical case of this, we will focus on the present standoff between farmers and the government and the need to reimagine rural futures in connection with pressing urban issues. The conflict is underpinned by vastly different views over what the future of the rural countryside of the Netherlands can and should be. In this year’s Mixed Classroom, we explore: how to emerge from such political deadlock and reconnect policy with society? The sessions will explore how futuring, artistic and collaborative approaches can create compelling visions of the future that would stick for both policy makers and rural society: “rural utopias”.

For policymakers, artists & activists:

• Application deadline: 5 October 2022
• Session dates: Six Wednesday afternoons (16 & 30 November, 7 December, 11, 18 & 25 January)
• A pre-selection applies to this course (please send a letter of motivation of a single page maximum to coordinator dr. Josephine Chambers (j.m.chambers@uu.nl)
• For more information contact course coordinator dr. Josephine Chambers

The Urban Futures Studio of the Utrecht University is devoted to the study of positive urban futures and of ways to get there. We investigate what we call ‘Techniques of Futuring’. We are a transdisciplinary institute; we conduct empirical research on existing practices, but also help to initiate experiments. We are convinced that new thinking starts in ‘crossovers’ between distinct disciplines, and in coalitions of new and old agents of change.