Urban Futures StudioApr 9, 2025
| Blog | Read Josie Chambers' new blog post where she introduces the Utopia*Art*Politics Collection; a multi-media collection of provocations and insights by 33 artist-researcher-practitioners who participated in the Utopia*Art*Politics Sessions last year. The collection brings together diverse ideas on how artistic practices can help reimagine and remake our world: https://www.uu.nl/en/opinion/the-utopiaartpolitics-collection #UtopianPulses #Utopia #Art #Politics #Research #Futures #Futuring #Imaginaries
The Utopia*Art*Politics Collection

The concept of utopia has a dark colonial past that lives on through overgrown dreams that leave little space for other possible futures. The Utopia*Art*Politics Collection explores the alternative potential of utopia—not as an elite blueprint of predefined ends—but as a radically collective method for justice.

Utrecht University
Urban Futures StudioJan 23, 2025
| BLOG | "We have been so busy recovering from the recent pandemic of the body, that we have been blind to the growing pandemic of the #imagination" Read Josie Chamber's new #UtopianPulses blog post: The perils of foretelling the
#future https://www.uu.nl/en/opinion/the-perils-of-foretelling-the-future
The perils of foretelling the future

For the opening keynote for the 16th Nordic Environmental Social Sciences Conference, Josie Chambers chose not to focus on the dominant ways people have been co-producing knowledge and action for sustainability. But rather, to take stock of the field and ask: what exactly are we co-producing? Are we producing knowledge that reinforces how the world is? Or are we imagining and prefiguring explorations of how the world can be otherwise?

Utrecht University
Urban Futures StudioJul 24, 2024
| Summer reads | Last year, Josephine Chambers, together with Steve Williams & Noor Noor, created an experimental musical opening performance for the #ISTConference in Utrecht where they "wanted to stage a different kind of feeling than your typical academic space." Read the #UtopianPulses blogpost https://www.uu.nl/en/opinie/an-experiment-in-musical-dreaming
An experiment in musical dreaming

When offered the chance to perform a live musical opening for the 14th International Sustainability Transitions Conference, Josie Chambers, Steve Williams & Noor Noor sought to connect emotionally to where we are with sustainability transitions, yet also offer a glimpse of what could be. In this first blog they explore the question: can music deepen our reflection and imagination in global spaces?

Utrecht University
Urban Futures StudioJul 23, 2024
| Summer break | For most of July and August, the Urban Futures Studio will be on summer break. In the meantime, we’ll share highlights from our Friends of the Future seminar series, the #ClimateConfessions blog series by @TimStacey , and the #UtopianPulses blog series by Josie Chambers. Visit our website to discover more: https://www.uu.nl/en/research/urban-futures-studio
Urban Futures Studio

Urban Futures Studio

Utrecht University
Urban Futures StudioMay 7, 2024
#art vs. #science? knowing vs. feeling? description vs. imagination? truth vs. contradictions? what are some of the mysterious metaphors that live within efforts to entangle art and science? Read Josie Chambers latest #UtopianPulses blog
https://www.uu.nl/en/opinion/mysterious-metaphors-of-art-science Artwork by Sina Bohm
Mysterious metaphors of “art–science”

Art-science collaborations are on the rise everywhere. Yet, what these relations constitute in practice is less clear. The very term “art-science” is itself limiting. Many collaborations seek to go beyond this simple binary, exploring the potential that exists at the intersection of artistic and research practices.

Utrecht University
Urban Futures StudioMar 28, 2024
"When we imagine “the future”, what do we conjure up? Some may think 5 years ahead and struggle to imagine a world much different than today. Others may dream of a better world...But what about the very shape of the future itself? Is it linear? Branching? Circular?" Read the latest #UtopianPulses blog post by Josie Chambers https://www.uu.nl/en/opinion/around-the-future-in-eighty-worlds
Around the future in eighty worlds

Throughout history, people have tried to give shape to the future. This piece offers no comprehensive tour of this history. Yet it does share some glimpses of how we might see the future in different ways, or rather different worlds. Here we begin our journey around the future in eighty worlds, even if we visit just a few for now…

Utrecht University
Urban Futures StudioFeb 8, 2024
When offered the chance to perform a live musical opening for the 14th International Sustainability Transitions Conference, Josie Chambers, Steve Williams & Noor Noor sought to connect emotionally to where we are with sustainability transitions, yet also offer a glimpse of what could be. In this first blog Chambers explores the question: can music deepen our reflection and imagination in global spaces? Read the first #UtopianPulses blogpost by Josie Chambers here: https://www.uu.nl/en/opinion/an-experiment-in-musical-dreaming
An experiment in musical dreaming

When offered the chance to perform a live musical opening for the 14th International Sustainability Transitions Conference, Josie Chambers, Steve Williams & Noor Noor sought to connect emotionally to where we are with sustainability transitions, yet also offer a glimpse of what could be. In this first blog they explore the question: can music deepen our reflection and imagination in global spaces?

Utrecht University