The aim of the project is to enable people to participate in the great urban transformation, both in planning and implementation. To do so, we develop an innovative tool, “Urban Xtopias”: Xtopias integrate content from utopian and dystopian futures – including technological, ecological, economic and social aspects – with a focus on urban open spaces as interfaces between individual and collective life in the city. But Urban Xtopias are also methodological tools to address these contents, paving the way from thought experiments to practical tests. In a “Year of Xtopias”, we will test three exemplary Urban Xtopias through nine interventions in three cities, adapting the approach to different actor groups and local contexts. A formative evaluation will show to what extent Urban Xtopias can stimulate people’s imagination with regard to future ways of life and develop their competencies and motivation to create, use, and assess futures. The results of these practical tests will be integrated into the Urban Xtopias, which will be published as the final project outcomes, while supporting long-term continuation of the local interventions. In Karlsruhe, the project is embedded in the real-world lab “District Future – Urban Lab”.

Project website: www.xtopien.org (in German)