The Fantasy Method of Urban Design

The Fantasy Method of Urban Design is an experimental cross-disciplinary method that aims to predict the future social and technological forces impacting upon our cities, and to design such cities in line with these predictions. Utilizing fantasy is one way to expand the minds of design students be...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Alan Marshall
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile 2018-02-01
Series:Diseña
Online Access:https://ojs.des.uc.cl/index.php/Disena/article/view/45
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author Alan Marshall
author_facet Alan Marshall
author_sort Alan Marshall
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description The Fantasy Method of Urban Design is an experimental cross-disciplinary method that aims to predict the future social and technological forces impacting upon our cities, and to design such cities in line with these predictions. Utilizing fantasy is one way to expand the minds of design students beyond technical parameters or isolated spatial settings, and to expose them to a world of enlarged environmental narrative, social possibility, and political complexity. In this article, the Fantasy Method is described through three case studies inspired by three influential texts: Utopia, by Thomas More (1516); Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley (1818); and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams (1978). These case studies make use of these chosen works of fantasy not just as background ideas, but as ways to inspire narratives of change in the design of future cities. They show that to study the fantastic under the purview of future cities is not an escape into fantasy, but an active response to the many technological and industrial fantasies, both extravagant and excessive, that are so prevalent in our contemporary urban lives.
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spelling doaj.art-118d8c7e4a284a05a1054127da9a00d22024-03-20T13:21:51ZengPontificia Universidad Católica de ChileDiseña0718-84472452-42982018-02-011210.7764/disena.12.312-323The Fantasy Method of Urban DesignAlan Marshall0Mahidol University The Fantasy Method of Urban Design is an experimental cross-disciplinary method that aims to predict the future social and technological forces impacting upon our cities, and to design such cities in line with these predictions. Utilizing fantasy is one way to expand the minds of design students beyond technical parameters or isolated spatial settings, and to expose them to a world of enlarged environmental narrative, social possibility, and political complexity. In this article, the Fantasy Method is described through three case studies inspired by three influential texts: Utopia, by Thomas More (1516); Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley (1818); and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams (1978). These case studies make use of these chosen works of fantasy not just as background ideas, but as ways to inspire narratives of change in the design of future cities. They show that to study the fantastic under the purview of future cities is not an escape into fantasy, but an active response to the many technological and industrial fantasies, both extravagant and excessive, that are so prevalent in our contemporary urban lives. https://ojs.des.uc.cl/index.php/Disena/article/view/45
spellingShingle Alan Marshall
The Fantasy Method of Urban Design
Diseña
title The Fantasy Method of Urban Design
title_full The Fantasy Method of Urban Design
title_fullStr The Fantasy Method of Urban Design
title_full_unstemmed The Fantasy Method of Urban Design
title_short The Fantasy Method of Urban Design
title_sort fantasy method of urban design
url https://ojs.des.uc.cl/index.php/Disena/article/view/45
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