Floridsdorf in 2050: Will the district look like a cement landscape stuck between two motorways? Will inhabitants still go out to shop, or will all goods be delivered to the front door by drones? Where will city-dwellers meet-up when the air is getting hotter and the Danube water warms?
We invited 12 teenagers from Floridsdorf between the ages of 15 and 19 to develop fantastic-realistic visions for four different spots in the city. Fantastic – because we wanted them to be actually excited about possible future prospects. Realistic – because it is fundamental to think about the city in the concrete context of the climate crisis. To help them, we used the model we developed through our qualitative study about the usage of the centre of Floridsdorf. To which of the four visions of cities do the young people from Floridsdorf feel connected? Is it the Urban Village? The Metropolis? Or do they rather see themselves as wanderers, hopping from one city to the next? After playing music videos and movie clips to them, showcasing these different city visions, we formed small groups to let them discuss in depth what they see as attractive characteristics of the three poles.
In a next step we asked them to create utopias for Floridsdorf drawn from these city visions – from the solidarity of the Urban Village, the freedom of the wanderer, to the glamour of the Metropolis – but to transform these characteristics to meet the needs of the city in the context of the climate crisis.
They produced recorded audio stories, telling tales of eco-friendly clubbing under the Floridsdorfer Dome, Winter Wonderlands in the parking garage of Donau Zentrum and equality-producing 3D Printers in libraries.
