'Urban practice has become increasingly speculative about the future. If there is a world where utopias are literally a commodity, bought and sold as little pieces of dreams, it is here...however, they do seem to have a clear source...derived largely from fictional scenarios of the future of humanity... (where) speculative fiction limits the idea of the urban future and...restricts choices we make in the present.'

The above quote is part of an essay we wrote in 2015 that explores the fictional imagination surrounding the world of speculative urban practice. It underlines the special connection that sci-fi imagery has with notions of future cities and demonstrates how this limits several projects around the world while giving the impression of being cutting-edge and futuristic. 

The conscious use of fiction as a tool in our practice, however, has always endeavoured to expand the speculative space to include many more layers to what hope, aspiration, dreams and desires can be in the world of urbanism.Our early engagement in Dharavi Koliwada started with a depiction of a fictional composite space that connected the streets of Dharavi in Mumbai to those of Shimokitazawa in Tokyo.

The idea was to underline the power of the imagination and recognize how urban forms express themselves through the efforts of ordinary residents outside the space of official expectation. They tend to be ignored, or marginalised not because they lack the elements of what is generally accepted as good urban form (the Tokyo side alluded to that) but also because they are simply not acknowledged as being valid at any level and tend to be dismissed (as the Dharavi side suggested). 

Creating a new fictional imaginary was a move towards what we consider a valuable starting point in urban practice - 'recognition'. A way of seeing that transforms our understanding of urban spaces by helping us navigate prejudice and expectation, dreams and aspirations in more creative ways. It makes us re-look at spaces differently. 

Our journey into imaginary spaces, rooted in real worlds that were often overlooked, took us to many unexpected worlds. Our early fiction was published in Mumbai Reader (Dharavi 2025) and as a short story (The Unknown Firewalls in Shockwave and other cyber stories). In both these texts we tried to expand our horizon through recognizing patterns and potential to guide us in our practice which in turn helped us weave new tales.

Such acts of recognition have sometimes exposed us to accusations of 'romanticizing' the mundane. What others called romanticizing we see as an expansion of the imagination, our vocabulary and practice. Somehow it has only motivated us to do more inspired action, and execute more projects.  

'Romanticizing' seems to have motivated our talented team of architects, urbanists and collaborators over the last sixteen years to engage in initiatives that improved civic infrastructure, transformed homes, and invented objects - all through a combination of practice and imagination.

This convinces us of what Donna Haraway has suggested (which we heartily endorse) the word fiction is an active form, referring to a present act of fashioning, while fact is a descendant of a past participle, a word form which masks the generative deed or performance. A fact seems done, unchangeable, fit only to be recorded; fiction seems always inventive, open to other possibilities, other fashionings (Haraway 1989: 4) 

Fiction does guide action by helping us recognize, shape and work in ways that make us conscious of the power of imagination to motivate and harness our resources effectively. 

Fiction continues to be our tool in several urban projects, beyond our work in Mumbai as well. We used fictional devices in our participatory project in the makeover of the ICRC campus in Geneva, as well as at the IFRC.

It was integral to our methodology in our project in Nantes (Hotel Dieu - link) where we made the space of 'The Writer's Room' (found mostly in TV and Film production houses) as part of the participatory urban planning process where residents brainstormed and imagined more expanded ways of understanding a site (a hospital that would be evacuated to a different location) and produced short stories, poetry and a screenplay. 

In this project -  creating fictional products about the fiction produced (through the workshops) became a way of engaging with an even larger circle of residents and citizens.  

The exercise involved making a fictional teaser about an imaginary film with its poster.

We continue exploring fiction as an urban practice in our forthcoming project in Cologne (2025) where fictional devices are integrated into a pedagogic exercise involving food, conviviality and the concept of the third place. We will send updates on these soon...