INTRODUCTION
Lead Editors:
Markus Moos, Professor, School of Planning, University of Waterloo
Michele Acuto, Professor, School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol
Shenjing He, Professor, Department of Urban Planning and Design, University of Hong Kong
Urban Imaginations and Urban Futures forms a pivotal segment of the 2024 Call for Papers initiative being launched by Urban Studies. This initiative, known as Critical and Conceptual Advances in Urban Studies, aspires to be a catalyst for groundbreaking research and thought-provoking discussions that will shape the future of urban studies and contribute to the sustainable and equitable development of cities around the globe. As a key part of this extensive initiative, the call for Urban Imaginations and Urban Futures aims to spur a reinvigoration of cutting-edge research that sets urban imaginations and urban futures at the heart of the ways in which we investigate cities.
The future, and the modes through which we represent it, are vividly central across the most pressing urban challenges shaping urban studies today. From imaginations of a climate-stricken planet to foresight investigations for the next pandemic’s impact on urban settlements, and depictions of how to rethink more equally the currently poverty-afflicted cities, and more, imagination is a protagonist in much urban studies. Recently, there have been growing calls for renewed consideration and critical analysis of imaginaries and constructed futures, as well as attempts to ‘predict’ urban futures in this era of growing global uncertainty. There is a long history in urban studies to build on scholarship from various disciplines, epistemological, and methodological vantage points on topics such as how the urban is imagined and perceived, plausible futures and who is constructing them, utopias/dystopias, scenario building, prediction, and forecasting.
Join us into this discussion about urban imaginations, urban futures, and their intersection!
URBAN IMAGINATIONS AND URBAN FUTURES
We invite papers from any discipline or inter/intra disciplinary approaches that build on this long-standing research and make novel contributions at the leading edge of urban scholarship. We welcome both empirical and conceptual papers that tackle the nexus of imagination and futures in cities and urban theorising. We emphasise the need for novelty in contributing clearly to the advancement of “global urban studies” debates in both empirical and conceptual papers. Although urban imaginations (and imaginaries) and urban futures are arguably always intertwined, and this nexus is a welcome focus of submission, for this call we also invite papers that focus on one of these concepts individually as well as those that actively seek to illuminate and enhance understanding of interconnections.
To invite a wide conversation that is truly ‘global urban’ in inclusivity and gaze, we offer here a prompt for possible themes via a (non-exhaustive) list of potential topics/themes within the area of urban imaginaries and urban futures.
Prospective authors are encouraged to submit individual papers on any of the topics below or consider submitting a special issue proposal including several papers connected by one of the topics/themes. If enough individual papers are received in any one or more sub-topics, Journal editors may connect with authors to help build and work toward a special issue submission of individually submitted papers. Papers from any disciplinary, methodological, or epistemological background are welcome.
A focus on conceptual novelty in urban research, and a clear contribution to advancing current and emergent global urban studies debates is essential.
Contributions may address a range of topics, including but not limited to:
- How to prioritise urban futures: greener? smarter? more sustainable? more equitable? Can we achieve multiple futures? How are some futures (e.g., efficient) used to justify overriding other futures (e.g., just)?
- How imagination is worked into or offers alternatives to the logic of capital expansion
- Growth and urban futures, no growth, slow growth, degrowth, shrinkage/contraction etc.
- Sustainable futures as breaks from the current trend – do we require new urban forms?
- Rhetoric of having to build the future city ‘quickly’
- Planning as ‘slowing’ progress toward future city solutions
- How is the urban unfolding temporarily (in time) into the future?
- The future city as ‘unfolding’
- Use of urgency and future needs to justify current decisions
- Time and temporal frames for urban economies and development: 24-hour cities
- Futures in planning, policy, and politics
- Future global agendas: climate, sustainable development, socio-economic shifts
- Conceptions of the future and relations to power structures
- Relative role of state, market, etc. in shaping the urban imagination
- How the urban is imagined, tools used to do so, and by whom – and implications for equity, environment etc.
- Inter-referencing, policy mobility and transfer in future city policy-making
- Planetary urbanisation trends and discourses
- Future of the ‘city’ and alternative frames to current urban trajectories
- Urbanisation beyond the city
- Urban aspiration/imagination inspired by the past or cross-cultural referencing
- How does global capital construct the urban in the global south, global north etc.? How do planning and other professions, policies etc. channel urban imaginaries around the globe? (e.g., from Vancouverism to Dubaization to Singapore model). Are we seeing a convergence or divergence of urban future imagination?
- Future imaginaries of urban governance: city states, the demise of the city, urbanised global governance, multi-scalar governance, urban-rural intersection etc.
- Critical investigation and application of methods of anticipating futures
- How is technology used to create and sell visions of the future?
- Scenario planning and its implications
- Use of images to convey meaning and constructing the urban
- Cross-cultural/country referencing and policy mobility as a methodological question
- What does it mean for urban studies when defined in different ways?
- How the future is constructed in our minds – as a break from now, as inherently better, or worse, as utopian, dystopian … etc.
- Urban imaginations from: above vs. below, within vs. outside, past and present (e.g., histories of future imaginaries) etc.
- Fictional imaginations, their role in urban studies/policy, and impact on shaping understanding/expectations/conceptions of the future
- Co-created or co-produced urban futures
- The urban as a locale for imagination – Why? What does it mean? Implications?
- Collective imaginations in shaping/driving change
Authors interested in contributing to this theme have two options for submission: 1) full-length paper submission, and 2) abstract submission for prioritised assessment.
Note that we strongly encourage authors to submit abstracts and papers before the suggested deadlines. We will process abstract and paper submissions as and when received. The invited full manuscript submissions will be prioritised during the internal screening and external review processes at the Journal to facilitate rapid response. In addition, unlike standard special issues that are published as a group when they are ready, the Journal is committed to the timely publication of the accepted papers under this call. The Journal will curate the accepted papers as an online collection and publish them individually in hardcopy as and when they are ready.
Please feel free to contact us with any questions about the call or enquiries about suitability of topics/papers. All papers submitted are first considered by Journal editors and if deemed suitable and of sufficient novelty then undergo a double-blind peer-review process.
Thank you for your consideration. We appreciate your interest and are excited to receive your contributions, which will help advance the dialogue on understanding urban health equity.
Full-Length Paper Submission
Urban Studies encourages researchers to respond to this call through existing paper submission mechanisms at the Journal as soon as possible if you have a full-length paper ready for submission. To do so:
- Submit your full-length papers by Friday 25 October 2024 to Urban Studies via our ScholarOne portal.
- Your paper must be formatted according to our guidance here.
- Ensure your cover letter explicitly states that the submission is in response to the Urban Imaginations and Urban Futures call for papers.
- Tick the Special Issue category in both Step 1 and Step 5 on the ScholarOne submission form.
- The standard peer-review process of the Journal will apply, including pre-screening by a theme lead. If the paper passes pre-screening, it will undergo review by external reviewers in the normal way.
Abstract Submission for Prioritised Assessment
Please note that the window for abstract submission for prioritised assessment is now closed however any enquiries about full paper submission or about this call for papers can be sent to our Editorial Office.
Abstracts received will be reviewed on a rolling basis and those selected for advancement to a full manuscript invitation will be informed by Friday 2 August 2024 or earlier.
