Future Cities is a transmedia project about five of the world’s most exciting, emerging urban areas. The project consists of a five-part web documentary, print stories and events in collaboration with Amsterdam venue Pakhuis de Zwijger.
The 21st century has for the first time seen more than half of the world’s population living in cities. And every day another 200 thousand people become urban dwellers – some 70 million people a year. In 2050, more than seventy percent of the world’s population will be living in an urban environment. We know that Shanghai, Rio de Janeiro and Mumbai are booming, but what will be the boom towns of 2025 or 2050? Which cities are looking to outstrip the current megacities in terms of growth, innovation and creativity?
This was the question that prompted Yvonne Brandwijk (photographer) and Stephanie Bakker (journalist) to go in search of this new generation of cities. They will take us to cities we might not think of in relation to the future of the world: from South America’s Silicon Valley to the African fashion capital of 2025. They have chosen these cities on the basis of demographic growth and economic potential. But where international research agencies stop at ranking rapidly growing cities, Future Cities takes a deeper look. At the world and the people behind the growth and urbanisation statistics. What happens when a city escapes the chokehold of a dictatorship, violence or Western domination? What face is then revealed? Who are the major players in this transition? What are their lives like? What do they dream of?
By no means all the consequences of urbanisation are positive, but the makers of Future Cities aim above all to capture in images and stories the ambition and progress this is unleashing, but without losing sight of reality. By recording and visually presenting the developments taking place and life as it is lived in emerging cities, they wish to transmit something of the inspiration, knowledge and energy of the global cities of tomorrow.
Contact: info@futurecities.nl
Stephanie Bakker: +31 6 52 031092
Yvonne Brandwijk: +31 6 52 410237
Credits:
Directors: Yvonne Brandwijk, Stephanie Bakker
Photography, film: Yvonne Brandwijk
Writing, reporting: Stephanie Bakker
Video-editor: Maaike Holvast
Interaction design: Sara Kolster
Visual design: 310k
Trailer, clips: 310k (editing), Peter Rutten (sound)
Development: Studio Parkers, Hay Kranen/de Volkskrant
Sound design: Casper van Deuveren
Colour correction video’s: John Loughlin
Translation: Mark Baker (EN), Vanesa de la Duena (ES)
Subtitles: Sjaan de Bruijn, Ineke Braakman, Christien Pennings, Corina Blank
Photo editor print, exhibition Habitat III Quito: Ellen Sanders
Project management exhibition Habitat III Quito: Lisette van Rhijn
Design exhibition Habitat III Quito: Kummer & Herrman
Fixers: Auguy Kibassa Maliba (Kinshasa), Juan Zacarias (Lima), Anna Livia Cullinan / Kyaw Win @Richard (Yangon).
Special thanks to: Corine de Vries, Chris Buur, Laurens Verhagen, Werner Damen, Menno Pelser, Fraser Bailey, Wout de Jong, Dirk Jan Koch, Juliette Carchedi, Sasja Kooistra, Toto Kisaku, Vlisco Nederland, Ester van Steekelenburg, Lisette van Rhijn, Minka Nijhuis.
Footage: ‘The returnee’: Getty Image / SDR Photo, ‘Nann Nann’: Trish Gallery Yangon and Intersections Art Gallery Yangon.
This project is supported by: the Fonds Bijzondere Journalistieke Projecten, Freepress/ Dutch Postcode Lottery Fund for Journalists, Stimuleringsfonds voor de Creatieve Industrie and the ‘Innovation in Development Reporting Grant’ programme of the European Journalism Centre (EJC), financed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
