Cities are facing several coinciding global crises. There is thedominant existential narrative of the impact of and adaptation toclimate change, itself powered by cities. In a time of unprecedentedurbanisation and growth, resilient architecture and urbanism is neededin response. New modes of transport, renewed anxiety about robots takingjobs, AI, and the humbling recent experience of a global pandemic areall challenging norms and expectations. All of these are forces ofsocial division, all are changing life experience, evoking strong-armpolitics, and giving a sense of teetering between radically differentpossible futures. This is a story about reclaiming the urban designnarrative and being alert to the potential impacts of socio-technicaldecision-making and design in cities. It is a story for its time. Theissue explores the dichotomy of idealised visions for the design ofurban settlements and the potentially shocking realities that may emergefrom the same impulses and intentions. It examines the slipperyterritory between utopias and some of the ensuing dystopias that mayunfold.Contributors:Tridib Banerjee, DanieleBelleri and Carlo Ratti, Steve Glackin, Justyna Karakiewicz, NanoLangenheim and Kongjian Yu, Mehrnoush Latifi, Andong Lu, Dan Nyandega,Jordi Oliveras, Kas Oosterhuis, Claudia Pasquero and Marco Poletto, IanWoodcock, and Tianyi Yang.Featured architects:Carlo Ratti Associati, ecoLogicStudio, Harrison and White, and Turenscape.