Discussion and presentation of the Speculative Urban Futures (SUrF) research project, co-funded by Erasmus+.
SUrF is a pedagogical project investigating the role and purpose of design in shaping contemporary urban reality. The project seeks to develop, test and share new design methods and pedagogical tools that can help us foster the conditions necessary to achieve key reforms and significant fundamental changes, aligning design with some of the demands and challenges of the 21st century. These efforts will take the form of five pilot packages that will include all the educational materials needed to replicate each course in other academic, civic and corporate contexts.
The project is composed of a team of architects, designers and researchers from four European universities (Elisava, ENSCi-Paris, TUDelft, University of Split) and the Estonian Architects' Association.
The activity proposed in the framework of Architecture Weeks 2025 will consist of two main parts. First, members of the 5 international teams will briefly present 5 methodologies developed since 2023 that use speculative design tools to rethink desirable future cities from the present. Secondly, a group of master and PhD students will present, in pecha-kucha format, projects of speculative urban futures.
