UPDATE: Read the collective “Urban Dwellers Manifesto” here.

Let’s imagine the future of our cities, together. What do our high streets look like? Parks? Work place? Do we walk more? What makes us happy?

After a year like 2020, we felt that Cooltsalon’s motto #unitedwecreate really needs to come forward. It is what motivated us to open a call for written thoughts, ideas and suggestions, to produce a collective “manifesto” of what it means to be a city dweller, now and in the (foreseeable) future.

At the core of our work is the desire to expand the notion of “creative”, not limiting it to those exercising a profession or trade in one of the “creative industries”. This manifesto is about all of us, as urban dwellers. We are keen to hear from non-artists and those not directly employed in the creative-cultural sector.

What is a manifesto?

Generally, a manifesto is a declaration of aims and policy. More broadly, it asks about ones beliefs and states the answers to that.

What would be our manifesto?

Rather than a set of aims or solutions, we want to develop a collective set of narratives that tell one story: that of the urban dweller, set in present continuous, so spanning the now and the next.

The point of this collective document is to highlight what we have in common, our shared beliefs and experiences of the city; what common problems are we facing and what shared hopes we have. The “manifesto” can paint a bigger picture of the “Future Now” examination proposed by the zine.

As a starting point, we ask contributors to draft responses to any (all) of the questions below:

⬥ What do you think of when you face the phrase “Future Now”?
⬥ What do you think is the way forward, in times when questions outweigh the answers? Can we talk about a way forward, at all, or are we all suspended in collective act of waiting?
⬥ What urban life issues, beyond immediate pandemic response measures, do you think need to be addressed as a priority?
⬥ What might be a way of dealing with this uncertainty – practical, physical, psychological, individual or collective, for a given city?

Thoughts can be send in anonymously, using our Contact page or signed with your job title via email, by 31 March.

The collective text will be published alongside the #cooltzine4 and made available during the event in May 2021.