Who doesn’t love a gathering of futurists?
Saturday, April 13 the University of Houston’s Futurists hosted the meeting City Making in the 21st Century: Designing Urban Futures. We had an amazing turn out of about 40 attendees.
Dr. Markley and Dr. Frewen
The day began with Dr. Oliver Markley, Professor Emeritus, presenting Alternative Images on the Future of Cities. Introduced as an intuitive futurist, Dr. Markley took us through Five Aspirational Futures Scenarios and then led the group in a session of “remote viewing” via mental time travel the possible/plausible alternative futures.
Todd Gentzel
Following Dr. Markley, Todd Gentzel, Chief Strategist at Yaffe Deutser, presented Psychology and the Field of the Future . He explained how the psychology of identity, personal orientation within cities, and perception of time all play into an individual’s acceptance and understanding of futures, ultimately impacting the development of cities in the future.
Rives Taylor
Then Rives Taylor, Director of Sustainable Design at Gensler, stepped in to discuss Lessons from Houston: Infrastructure of a Resilient City. His presentation brought to light that Houston could design itself, using nature as an example, to become a more resilient city by better utilizing of all of the rainfall we receive.
Our final presenter, Dr. Cindy Frewen of the APF and adjunct professor extraordinaire, spoke of Great Urban Divides. The informal housing being built by vulnerable populations is drastically increasing, and within urban centers, the traditional geographic divides between the types of informal communities is disappearing. We may now be facing urban regions rather than urban cities.
Then afternoon was devoted to break out sessions, where small groups discussed issues proposed by individual attendees. Topics ranged from the most far out scenarios you’ve ever encountered, to practical problems faced by futurists (planning vs. preparation, dealing with challenging clients, how to engage people in futures), to, naturally, futures (the legal framework of robocars, how to deal with jails when we run out of money).
Overall the meeting was a rousing success. Thanks to Dr. Bishop, Dr. Hines, Dr. Frewen and all our guest speakers for an unforgettable day! Check out all the tweets.
