The Future of Cities. Not for Granted

In past efforts to limit the effects of climate change, relatively little consideration has been given to the role of urban development and architecture. People around the world are on the move, fleeing their home countries from the impacts of a warming planet. And their destination is primarily urban centres and especially cities in Europe. Migration, which goes hand-in-hand with the diversification of immigrant societies, digitalisation with its enormous influence on social life, and the challenges of climate change are all topics that urban planners need to focus on more intensively in the future. Architecture is frequently driven by efficiency and profit-making which in turn boosts speculation with urban real estate instead benefiting residents. This project and its multiple formats – a group exhibition, a two-day international symposium and an educational project targeted at young people – aim to address a number of important questions. For example, what can architects – in cooperation with urban planners and in dialogue with local inhabitants – contribute to a new culture of coexistence that takes climate change, migration and digitalisation into account as part of the same challenge? What role do new models of ownership and contemporary forms of labour play? What solutions already exist? The project begins by following the line of thinking suggested by the Italian architect Raul Pantaleo and discusses various perspectives on new possibilities of action in cities, developed by experts and residents, children and adults from eleven countries on five continents.

Artistic director: Michael Arzt
Artists and architects: Studio Forage, Falk Haberkorn, Anna Heringer, Isola Art Center, Kadir van Lohuizen, Keiichi Matsuda, Christoph Schäfer & Margit Czenki, TAMassociati and others

Symposium and exhibition: HALLE 14 – Centre for Contemporary Art, Leipzig: symposium: 28 – 29 Jan. 2022; exhibition: 11 Sep. 2021 – 29 Jan. 2022