Citizen of the Future

Research Background The insights and actions of architects make a profound contribution to the making of cities and territories. While they are constantly involved in related decision-making processes, they are rarely asked to publicly reflect upon and articulate the political dimensions and decisions shaping the places we inhabit. This exhibition sought to offer a platform through which these public articulations could be made. Research Contribution This work was written and produced for an exhibition dedicated to articulating the pressing questions and desires that architects believe play an important role in understanding the political dimensions and decisions that drive the making of cities and territories. Through invitation, a group of architects were asked to write letters to "the Mayor of your city of origin or residence" for public exhibition. My letter was addressed to a fictional Mayor in the future, written by a future self in 2051, becoming a piece of illustrated creative writing that would be situated in the genre of 'speculative fiction'. The design of 'speculative fictions' has been explored with increasing intensity since ~ 2005 as a way contribute to debate about socio-cultural implications of emerging (often technological) possibilities and capabilities. Notably marked by the internationally renowned work of Dunne and Raby and their RCA program (Design Interactions), this genre of work is focussed on speculative objects and scenarios rather than architectural environments. Speculative fiction projects by architects have largely aimed to produce 'visionary' proposals that are more utopian than aimed at provoking debate. This project inhabited a gap between these approaches to speculative fiction in architectureand design, while offering an alternative perspective/approach to the Storefront exhibition. Research Significance This work was an invited commission by Storefront director and curator, Eva Franch i Gilabert. (cont. on research coversheet)