Tag: city-of-the-future | ArchDaily

City-Making Through Participation: Lessons from Utopian Hours 2026

Mohieldin Gamal — Fri, 19 Jun 2026 07:30:00 +0000

Who has the right to the city? Henri Lefebvre's writings question the structures that control urban space and, instead, put the citizens at the center of decision-making. His ideas have influenced the way architecture and urban design are practiced, bringing about community participation and co-design. These have been some of the most prominent themes at Utopian Hours 2026, the festival of city-making, the first part of which was held in the Dutch city of Rotterdam to mark its tenth anniversary edition.

Cities Need Care, Not Perfection: Rethinking How We Build the Urban Future

Olivia Poston — Sat, 29 Nov 2025 07:30:00 +0000

What does optimism feel like in cities that can no longer rely on perfection as their ultimate ambition? Across the world, urban environments bear the weight of overlapping pressures: climate volatility, spatial inequality, political fragmentation, public distrust, and chronic infrastructural disinvestment. These realities render the idea of an ideal city increasingly detached from lived experience. Yet the hope for building better systems persists. While utopian visions may seem like an escape from the growing complexities of the modern world, the greater challenge for contemporary city-making is to confront those complexities rather than avoid them.

What Kind of City Will Humanity Need? Exploring Amancio Williams' Proposal for a Linear City

Agustina Iñiguez — Mon, 21 Apr 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Through his unbuilt projects, built works, and research, Amancio Williams's ideas emerge as the result of a deep understanding of the most advanced trends of his time reflecting on architectural design, urbanism and city planning. By exploring various themes, concepts, and even materials, he aims to create a personal universe that interprets the present as something future-oriented, both international and distinctly Argentine. His proposal "La ciudad que necesita la humanidad" presents linear and layered buildings raised 30 meters above ground, incorporating everything from office spaces to roads and magnetic trains on different levels of a single structure. The Amancio Williams archive at the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal documents Williams' career as an architect and designer from the 1940s to the late 1980s. The fonds documents his work for over 80 architectural, urban planning and design projects, as well as the administration of his architecture practice and his professional activities. Including drawings and sketches, presentation models, photographic materials, such as photographs of models, finished project (when realized), reference images, photographic reproduction of plans, and site photographs, the archive is available to consult offering more details.

What is a Digital Twin?

Rebecca Ildikó Leete — Sat, 22 Jan 2022 07:30:00 +0000

The emergence of the Digital Twin phenomenon has heralded a great change in terms of urban planning. It essentially presents the city as dynamic, in virtual form. Ensuring every element from the historic fabric, new construction, and public transit is accounted for in one three-dimensional model. Not only does it present key elements in terms of the landscape, but it also encompasses often overlooked conditions such as the presence of light throughout the day, shadows, and the presence of vegetation and trees. All of which contribute to a better preliminary process of site analysis.

Sou Fujimoto Reveals Design for Torch Tower in Tokyo, Japan

Christele Harrouk — Tue, 19 Jan 2021 06:30:00 +0000

Sou Fujimoto Architects has unveiled its design for the top part of the tallest skyscraper in Japan “Torch Tower” in Tokyo, collaborating mainly with Mitsubishi Jisho Sekkei, Inc. Standing tall at 390m, the highrise building planned to be ready by 2028, takes on a large plaza at around 300m, generating a space for people.

From the Grassroots Up: How We Can Transform the Future of Cities One Startup at a Time

Kaley Overstreet — Sun, 01 Nov 2020 07:30:00 +0000

More than 55% of the world’s population lives in cities, with that number only expected to increase in the coming decades. Despite the rising population in urban areas, local governments continue to raise flags about inadequate infrastructure and the declining quality of life that cities are facing. Perhaps the large scale problems that we typically categorize as urban innovation, inclusion, and infrastructure, can be solved if we get to the root of the smaller troubles, that we may not even know existed. It’s time to take urban issues off the back burner and improve cities not just for today, but for the long term future.

Sidewalk Labs Reimagines Urban Planning with New Delve Generative Design Tool

Eric Baldwin — Tue, 13 Oct 2020 10:01:00 +0000

Sidewalk Labs has unveiled Delve, a new generative design tool that aims to help developers, architects and urban designers identify better neighborhood design options. It uses machine learning to reveal optimal design options from a series of core components, including buildings, open spaces, amenities, streets, and energy infrastructure. By applying machine learning, it explores millions of design possibilities for a given project while measuring the impact of design choices.

Designing Smart Cities: A Human-Centered Approach

Christele Harrouk — Fri, 31 Jul 2020 05:30:00 +0000

By 2025, Frost and Sullivan, a market research company, has predicted that there will be at least 26 fully-fledged major smart cities around the world. While some still think that as our cities get more intelligent, they will resemble sci-fi futuristic movies, the reality is that the quality of life in these cities will drastically improve. Cities are set to become more efficient with better services. Nevertheless, before reaching these ideals, let us go back on the process itself, and evaluate the challenges that we might face.

Chris Precht Shares his Thoughts on the New Generation of Architects in ReSITE Podcast

Christele Harrouk — Fri, 14 Feb 2020 06:30:00 +0000

Design and the City is a podcast by reSITE, raising questions and proposing solutions for the city of the future. In the second episode, Chris Precht from Studio Precht talks about being part of a new generation of architects, concerned with the environment, climate change, and sustainability, rather than with theories or concepts.

City of the Future Elaborates on Responsive Architecture

Christele Harrouk — Tue, 24 Dec 2019 12:00:00 +0000

City of the Future is a bi-weekly podcast from Sidewalk Labs that explores ideas and innovations that will transform cities.

The New Space Race: 6 Challenges for Extraterrestrial Architecture

Soledad Sambiasi — Mon, 25 Nov 2019 05:00:00 +0000

Up until now, space architecture has been mainly focused on engineering, centered on projects like orbital space stations or Martian exploration convoys, commissioned by world space agencies such as ESA (Europe) or NASA (USA). But in recent years, an increasingly broader spectrum of professionals (e.g. architects, sociologists) as well as entrepreneurs and investors (not all well intentioned) have joined the challenge of designing extraterrestrial built environments, the new space race of the 21st century.

City of the Future Examines the Future of Electrification

Christele Harrouk — Fri, 15 Nov 2019 10:00:00 +0000

City of the Future is a bi-weekly podcast from Sidewalk Labs that explores ideas and innovations that will transform cities.

City of the Future Explores the Future of Mobility in Cities

Christele Harrouk — Mon, 04 Nov 2019 11:00:00 +0000

City of the Future is a bi-weekly podcast from Sidewalk Labs that explores ideas and innovations that will transform cities.

City of the Future Shares Thoughts on Retail and Vibrant Streets

Christele Harrouk — Tue, 22 Oct 2019 06:30:00 +0000

City of the Future is a bi-weekly podcast from Sidewalk Labs that explores ideas and innovations that will transform cities.

UNStudio Designs a City of the Future for The Hague

Eric Baldwin — Mon, 03 Dec 2018 13:00:00 +0000

Dutch architectural practice UNStudio have created a new urban vision for the City of the Future, a Central Innovation District (CID) test site in The Hague. Dubbed the "Socio-Technical City", the design covers a 1 square km area in the center of the city. The proposal aims to transform the site into a green, self-sufficient district of housing, offices, urban mobility and public spaces over the existing train track infrastructure.

Can Future Cities be Timber Cities? Google’s Sidewalk Labs Asks the Experts

Olivia Jia — Tue, 23 Oct 2018 04:00:00 +0000

Steel and concrete facades have dominated contemporary cityscapes for generations, but as pressures from climate change pose new challenges for design and construction industries, some firms are turning to mass timber as the construction material of the future. But could it be used for structures as complex as skyscrapers?