Transforming the engineering of cities: ‘points of departure’ for future visioning

The transforming the engineering of cities programme, an ambitious 5-year multidisciplinary research programme, provided numerous findings related to approaches to the future (short, medium and/or long term) of planning in cities. In addition to academic papers, a series of white papers were written for a policy audience. Using the literature review approach and narrative content analysis, the white papers were reviewed to identify lessons to inform and equip the profession in crafting urban futures. From this analysis, three ‘points of departure’, starting points for crafting urban futures have been identified: (a) ‘rethinking engineering principles and practice’, (b) ‘reimagining the function and form of the city itself’ and (c) ‘understanding the city as a social system’. The paper discusses the implications of these departure points, and strengths and weaknesses of these approaches to projecting and crafting urban futures.