今日世界各地的城市都笼罩着许多威胁：气候变迁、人口过多、社会分裂和城市战争，这所有的一切都危及我们的都市生活。我们只能用想像力，来理解这些未知因素，会如何影响城市未来的样貌。长久以来，建筑师、艺术家、制片家和小说家都对未来城市有很多想像，但他们所反映出来的未来城市样貌，往往和科学所预测的截然不同，毕竟一个只是幻象，另一个则是依据实际情况的推测。在这个数位时代，当真实与幻想供存且几乎相同时，了解这两股力量交错的原因最为重要，当然，我们也需要知道应该如何结合这两种力量，建构我们想要的未来城市。
 
让我们一起探索一系列令人惊叹的想像城市：有在水底下的、会漂浮的，在空中的、垂直耸立的、地底下的、遭破坏的和重建的，《未来城市》梳理出推测与现实之间的联系，且认为两者间没有太大的差距。在荷兰，已经开始建造漂浮城市的原形；杜拜最近盖好的摩天大楼就像以前科幻小说里的城市；而开发中国家都市里的临时居住区就像是赛博庞克里的反乌托邦城市。作者Paul Dobraszczyk 将建筑、小说、电影和视觉艺术融合在一起，重新将想像中的城市和现实生活中的城市联系在一起，为人类的未来提供了坚定的基础，而那些多元、充满想像力的实践作法，就在触手可及的前方等着我们。
 
 
本书好评
"Dobraszczyk's eloquent redefinition of ecology, of the imagination, and of architecture is breathtaking in its audacity and indisputably brilliant. Future Cities is much more than a book about buildings or Blade Runner, dealing as it does with the critical importance of multiplicity and integration in an increasingly disordered world."--Australian

"When we dream of the future, Dobraszczyk suggests in this rich and impeccably timed new book, we often dream of buildings. Dobraszczyk makes the case that visions of future worlds, from ancient myths to science fiction, are resolutely urban because of a deep imaginative pull that only cities can satisfy."--Geoff Manaugh, author of "A Burglar's Guide to the City"

"A compendious, dizzying collection of the cities of the future, and their analogues in the present. Future Cities holds out the important hope that our cities could be better--fairer, more equal, more open--rather than just taller and weirder."--Owen Hatherley, author of "Militant Modernism" and "Trans-Europe Express"

"A fascinating, erudite survey of visionary cities, from the ocean depths to the skies above. At once fantastical and meticulous, Dobraszczyk's book is anchored like Robida's soaring airships to iron structures. An engaging and revealing text that demonstrates when we create speculative cities, whether utopian or dystopian, we are always writing about our present; our dreams, our fears, and our memories. Delving into fictional places, we are delving into ourselves."--Darran Anderson, author of "Imaginary Cities"
 
关于作者
Paul Dobraszczyk 是一位研究学者、一位作家也是伦敦大学巴特雷建筑环境学院（Bartlett School of Architecture, London）的教师。他著有The Dead City: Urban Ruins and the Spectacle of Decay and Iron, Ornament and Architecture in Victorian Britain，同时也是Global Undergrounds: Exploring Cities Within一书的共同编辑，这两本书皆由Reaktion Books出版。