Abstract

BOURDIN, Alain. Liberate ourselves from the standardization process to think the city of tomorrow. Bol. cienc. tierra [online]. 2021, n.50, pp.46-53.  Epub Feb 07, 2022. ISSN 0120-3630.  https://doi.org/10.15446/rbct.n50.98065.

The last thirty years (1990-2020) have seen a global urban revolution. The next thirty years will see another one at least as strong. Thinking about the city of tomorrow is therefore a considerable challenge. The article shows that standardization processes, city classifications, labels, models, best practices and also “starchitecture” make it difficult to decenter thought and mobilize the imagination necessary for thinking the future. Liberating the thought of the future city requires a method that helps to explore the unexplorable and that gives full scope to the imaginary. A more thorough analysis of the consequences of innovations, the valorization of serendipity, the development of techniques that create spaces of freedom in reasoning, the use of paradoxes, oxymoron, and contradictions for the elaboration of new concepts are all avenues to follow. But this also implies the existence of networks of actors dedicated to this reflection, somewhat like the IPCC.

Keywords : future of the world; urban revolution; urban models; standardization; liberating the thought.

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