How do urban researchers think about and work with the future? And what do concepts such as futuring, imagining, forecasting, … mean across disciplines?
These questions are at the heart of an upcoming half-day workshop on Futuring and Imagining in Urban Studies, organised on 5 May 2026 by the Urban Studies Institute at the UAntwerp Stadscampus (room TBA).
Comparing notes on futuring
Concepts like re-imagining, futuring, and foresighting are increasingly present in international calls for proposals, where researchers are asked to design resilient, alternative futures or forecast evidence-based scenarios. Yet the methods, assumptions, and traditions behind these expectations vary enormously across fields. This workshop is an opportunity to slow down, compare notes, and explore what we each bring to the table — and what we might build together.
Workshop format
The brainstorm will feature short, focused presentations from colleagues across law, history, sociology, urban planning, geography, and beyond, followed by a collective wrap-up with sandwich lunch.
Whether you actively work with futures methodologies or simply are curious about how other disciplines approach the question, we warmly invite you to join but don’t forget to register by 1 May 2026.
Programme
- 10:00 – 10:10 Welcome and introduction
- 10:10 – 10:30 General perspectives on how to practice futuring and imagining in research from law. Esther van Zimmeren (Metropolitan Legal Lab, Government & Law)
- 10:30 – 10:50 Past futures, futures and futures past: a historian’s perspective. Jeroen Puttevils (Centre for Urban History)
- 10:50 – 11:10 Social imaginaries of social-economic transitions. Lisa Suckert (CRESC)
- 11:10 – 11:30 Break
- 11:30 – 11:50 What would Flanders look like in 2050 (results from the InnoFiNS-project presented using a future studies approach) and introducing the AESOP thematic group Urban Futures. Thomas Machiels (Urban Development Research Group)
- 11:50 – 12:10 Building for the future – how planners and politicians understand the future. Greet De Block and Thomas Vanoutrive (Centre for Urban History & Urban Development Research Group)
- 12:10 – 12:30 Modelling and forecasting in geography: spatial agent-based modelling Lukar Thornton (Marketing)
- 12:30 – 13:00 Wrap-up and future plans (accompanied by sandwich lunch)