Now in its eighth edition, Utopian Hours, the reference event in Europe for new city making, will be held from 18 to 20 October 2024 at the Centrale Lavazza in Turin and is organised by Stratosferica, one of the reference realities in Italy and Europe in the creation of content and the dissemination of urban issues. The initiative proposes itself as the ‘international festival of cities’, a true event capable of tracing an overview of ‘city making’ through the story of the ideas, projects and places that are improving life in the world’s cities. For three days, the festival will give voice to the protagonists of these changes: city makers, activists, architects and innovators who will be able to share their experience at the event, stimulating new visions on urban evolution and a reflection on the concept of the city.
Like every year, the festival will bring to Italy the best of urban innovation from all over the world: for this eighth edition there will be over 30 world-famous guests involved in talks, panels, workshops, exhibitions and comparisons to offer new keys through which to interpret the present and future of cities. Guests will include Ya-Ting Liu (NEW YORK MUNICIPALITY), Sarah Castle (IF_DO), Illah Van Oijen (PUNKT), Zala Velkavrh (PROSTOROŽ), Nadina Galle (author of NATURE OF CITIES), Martyn Evans (LANDSECU+I), Dirk Van Peijpe (DE URBANISTEN), Nicolas Détrie (YES WE CAMP), Nick Gaskell (HAWKINS\BROWN), Ralph Hora (NEXT GEN VILLAGE), Matt Grunbaum (FIELD OPERATIONS), Jaanus Juss (TELLISKIVI CREATIVE CITY), Roland Kager (STUDIO BEREIKBAAR).
The guests’ speeches will follow up the collective reflection inaugurated during the last edition of the festival by continuing the drafting of the Manifesto for a New City Making to which many guests already contributed in 2023. Compared to last year, the Manifesto will be enriched with new suggestions and declarations of intent by the guests of this new edition.
Utopian Hours 2024 also proposes 6 closed-door round tables that will be open by invitation only: these meetings will be dedicated to key topics for the debate on the urban future.
In addition, Utopian Hours will host for the third edition The Urbanites’ Fair, a mini expo dedicated to some of the most active international realities dealing with cities and urban phenomena: installations will tell the story of the work of 15 organisations, including independent collectives, media & magazines, universities, content creators and networks from Europe and around the world. Further enriching the programme will be music, workshops and exclusive encounters with a series of unprecedented contents that respect the visionary and contemporary atmosphere of the festival.
Watch the video recap of the last edition:
