Resilience has emerged as a dominant policy narrative for cities in response to the complexity and uncertainty of climate change. ‘Futures’ research has shown that collective, dominant and institutionalised visions of the future shape the ways in which transition pathways are defined. Embedded in these social imaginaries are not just ideas of resilience but wider values and visions of society. These imaginaries enable or limit political imagination and shape development narratives, policies, institutions, investments, social choices and behaviours.
Transitions Research, along with Forum for the Future organised this session at the second annual Gobeshona Global Conference to explore questions such as: what are the imaginaries of resilient cities that are shaping cities in South Asia? How do we ensure that visions of both less and more powerful actors shape the transitions? How can we use these imaginaries towards transformational adaptation?
