Urban futures, past and present

The current conjecture demands deeper reflection on how we imagine the future of cities. This article responds by taking stock of the conceptual resources and analytical tools we possess by looking back to key moments of urban history in which the future has taken shape in particularly influential ways. It outlines an approach for conceptualizing the "future" as an historically specific cultural horizon that defines how societies organize themselves and their institutions, and one that is inextricably bound up with the history of urbanization and with the "city" as both idea and spatial form. The discussion is organized into three thematic sections that correspond to recurring themes in the history of the urban imagination, and that continue to resonate today.