Ciudad Futura
The Archivo Digital de Ideas Urbanas brings together global urban thinkers and practitioners to explore creative solutions for future cities, offering a collaborative space for knowledge exchange and experimentation.
Modern cities face complex challenges driven by rapid population growth, environmental crises, and increasing social inequality. Addressing these issues requires innovative approaches to urban design and planning, as conventional methods of building and reconfiguring urban spaces often fall short. Cities must be reimagined as adaptable, sustainable, and inclusive environments that can respond to these pressing challenges.
The Archivo Digital de Ideas Urbanas is a digital archive of spatial, sociotechnical, and conceptual innovations curated by the Urban Sciences Lab at IAAC. This archive forms part of the Mendoza Laboratorio Urbano initiative, led in collaboration with the local government of Mendoza and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). It compiles an evolving collection of urban ideas and practices that propose new methods of constructing and reconfiguring 21st-century cities in response to challenges such as population growth, climate change, and social inequality. The archive envisions cities as adaptable laboratories, technologically advanced, carbon-neutral, and socially inclusive spaces.
An initiative focused on urban innovation and reimagining future cities. The project operates within the fields of urban sciences, architecture, and planning, aiming to create a repository of ideas for sustainable and inclusive urban development.
The archive employs a speculative and critical framework, collecting and organising emerging landscapes, technologies, and urban concepts. It addresses three core challenges: rapid population growth, the climate crisis, and social inequality. These challenges guide the development of urban strategies that envision future cities as adaptable and flexible, environmentally sustainable, and socially inclusive. The framework allows for continuous expansion and flexibility as new ideas and practices are introduced.
The Project
The Archivo Digital de Ideas Urbanas offers a systematic and flexible repository of ideas that rethink urban landscapes and technologies. It explores the future of cities by addressing major urban challenges through spatial, social, and technological innovation. As a critical tool, the archive supports alternative urban development models that reframe the city as an open, adaptable space, a carbon-neutral environment, and a socially inclusive collective space. The archive fosters collaboration among urban designers, planners, and local communities to craft alternative, equitable futures for cities.
Our Contribution
The Urban Sciences Lab at IAAC curated the Archivo Digital de Ideas Urbanas, contributing its expertise in urban research and innovation. By developing this digital archive, IAAC has provided a vital tool for urban professionals, policymakers, and communities to explore and implement forward-thinking urban strategies. The project emphasises speculative urbanism and critical thinking, helping cities address contemporary challenges in innovative ways.
Who is it for?
The project is intended for urban planners, architects, local governments, and communities interested in exploring innovative solutions to urban challenges. It also targets academic and professional audiences who seek to push the boundaries of urban design and planning through speculative and forward-thinking practices. The archive serves as a resource for city officials, researchers, and the public, providing a collaborative platform for urban transformation.
Pilot Cities
- IAAC Urban Sciences Lab, Barcelona
- Local government of Mendoza
- Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)
