Conflicts in urban future-making: Governance, institutions, and transformative change

Editors: Monika Grubbauer, Alessandra Manganelli, and Louis Volont

Under conditions of heightened uncertainty, cities face enormous challenges in responding to contemporary crises. The contributors to this volume explore the conflictual dynamics that arise when urban futures are imagined, negotiated, and materialized. Through the lens of urban future-making, they provide a timely analysis of the conflicts that shape planning projects, architectural interventions, and new experiments in the built environment. Their analyses show how urban future-making is conditioned by conflicting governance arrangements, actor constellations, and power dynamics – offering rich insight into the critical role of professionals as key agents of urban transformation.

Understanding conflicts in urban future-making: Arenas, negotiation, and affect (Monika Grubbauer, Louis Volont, and Alessandra Manganelli)

Grubbauer, Volont, and Manganelli explore the notion of conflict in urban future-making. They argue that built environment professionals act as agents of conflict, mediating between expert knowledge, conflicting publics, values, and worldviews. The authors identify three modes of negotiating conflict and conclude that urban future-making is an affective practice, eliciting emotional responses from citizens and professionals alike.

More information
https://www.transcript-verlag.de/978-3-8376-7467-5/conflicts-in-urban-future-making/