Exploring urban futures | gestalten X SPACE10

Research and design lab SPACE10 and publishing house gestalten have teamed up to gather world-leading architects, designers, researchers, entrepreneurs and city planners to a single platform: as a result, the book The Ideal City has been published, focusing on the city of the future. Let’s see the details!

What kind of cities do we want to live in? What do we believe is important for a good life? And what makes a good home for all of us? Gestalten’s latest publication explores these questions by taking a comprehensive, holistic and multidisciplinary approach: it rethinks how we could design, plan, build and share our cities going forward. Its goal is to present inspiring solutions and ideologies that not only benefit us, citizens, but our planet, as well.

“Today, cities are not meeting the essential needs of a big portion of the people living there. Simultaneously, urban areas are the biggest drivers of the climate crisis. The challenges are extensive, but so are the opportunities. We really find ourselves at a crossroads: we can continue to hurtle down this well-trodden path, which we know where it leads; or we can explore a new way forward. With The Ideal City, we wanted to scour the world for inspiring chefs and ingredients, and bring them together in an aspirational cookbook for cities—stuffed with recipes on how to create a better home for humanity, while taking care of our planet,” said Simon Caspersen, SPACE10’s co-founder.

The pages of The Ideal City unfold projects from 53 cities of 30 countries starting from innovative food and energy production to diverse and inclusive housing and transportation systems. The publication features experts ranging from legendary urban designer Jan Gehl to transportation entrepreneur Robin Chase, but one can also find out about the works of architect studio Bjarke Ingels and interdisciplinary design studio Urban Think Tank in the book, in addition to a variety of smaller, community-led projects.

“When thinking about the future of cities, it’s easy to get somewhat depressed when you get stuck into the challenges that lie ahead. But that’s not what this book is about. Instead, this book offers an optimistic alternative narrative, one that explores the countless tools, ideas and experiments already at our disposal to create better cities for all,” added Elli Stuhler, gestalten’s editor.