How do you shape different possible futures for cities?
In this Open Duet, we brought together Javier Guillot from Bogota City Government and Jayne Engle from McConnell Foundation to reflect and have conversation on how we can shape different possible futures for cities and what is the role of citizens in them. How can we as citizens imagine culture and nature in different ways and take action and decisions differently in our daily lives? How do we create experiments that guide us to different futures for cities, which are more resilient and livable?
Key takeaways
Relationality is key for cities - The relationality is not only between people but also with life in all other forms, ‘making kin with all forms of life’. It’s not about human-centred approach but about life-centred approach.
Citizen culture and agency - Citizen culture and power of citizens is key to driving collective agency towards systemic environmental challenges that our cities and regions are facing now. The agency of people to be able to express and act on their own creativity and having the support to do that where they live is essential.
Narratives and experimentation - By sharing the narratives and stories with each other, we own the possibilities of hope. Citizen culture approach also puts emphasis on how we understand reality together, listening to diverse forms of life and population. It’s also about experimentation and learning -- there is a lot of humility in learning, trying and learning again.
Sacred values and cities - How do we bring sacred values in thinking about our cities (not in a religious way but things that don’t have monetary value -- freedom, nature, courage, truths)? Here, we are drawing on indigenous wisdom which we think is good for everyone.
Seven generation cities - How do we embed the notion of time into city building? Very often in the Western cultures, we tend to think and build for the short term. Democracy at its origin and until recent times, had accountabilities to future generations and somehow we lost that. What if we think about building seven generation cities -- looking back and learning deeply from what we’ve done, being present and also looking seven generations ahead?
