Institute for Research on Innovation and Services for Development

Resilience - Innovation - Sustainable Development Transparency – Organization – Meritocracy

Call for Contributions – “Prefiguring Hopeful Futures” Symposium (10-11 September 2025, Eindhoven)

02 Jul 2025
In continuity with the activities developed within AESOP and consistently with the role of Gabriella Esposito and Stefania Ragozino as members of the Association’s Advisory Board and scientific coordinators of the Thematic Group on “Public Spaces and Urban Cultures” (respectively from 2015–2019 and 2021–2023), Cnr Iriss is pleased to share the call for contributions to Prefiguring Hopeful Futures, a two-day participatory symposium taking place on 10–11 September 2025 at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), the Netherlands.The event is organized by the AESOP Thematic Group on Public Spaces and Urban Cultures andsupported by the legacy of the JPI-ENUTC project CoNECT.

Bringing together researchers, designers, artists, and community practitioners, the symposium will explore how small-scale, experimental, and everyday urban practices can actively shape more just, sustainable, and multispecies futures. Grounded in the concept of prefiguration, it proposes a critical, creative, and speculative space for reimagining urban life beyond dominant paradigms.

The event is structured around three intersecting thematic strands:

  • Futures in the Everyday: Exploring how ordinary practices and routines can prefigure transformative urban futures.
  • Ecological Transitions as Collective Practices: Focusing on participatory responses to ecological and climate crises, rooted in local cultures and interdependence.
  • Designing More-Than-Human Urban Futures: Engaging with design approaches that promote multispecies cohabitation, care ecologies, and post-anthropocentric imaginaries.

A pre-event webinar will be held in early August to connect selected contributors and support collaborative preparation. This event will be of particular interest to scholars and practitioners working at the intersection of urban studies, ecology, design, and social justice—including those involved in European research on spatial justice, post-human urbanism, and participatory transformation processes.

Key information

Submission deadline: 15 July 2025
Submission format: Abstract (max 300 words), format preference, and short bio (max 100 words) to be sent to o.druta@tue.nl
Registration fee: None (participants cover travel/accommodation; meals provided)

Per informazioni:
Stefania Ragozino
CNR – Istituto di Ricerca su Innovazione e Servizi per lo Sviluppo
s.ragozino@iriss.cnr.it

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