The making of future cities involves the challenging of existing models of urban development while promoting alternative processes, practices, and digital technologies to make urban areas more socially sustainable and liveable, and more environmentally resilient. But who takes part in defining and designing the cities of the future? What roles do citizens play? How can their imagination, enthusiasm, and energy be mobilised for new modes of collaborative city-making? And, crucially, how can public assets be used to support such initiatives in a way that is effective and fair?

This project interrogates alternative forms of participation, urban development, and governance, generated through collaborative actions and interactions between a range of local community groups, with the support of local government agencies. It draws on qualitative research carried out in London and Milan to investigate the growing phenomenon of civic crowdfunding projects in contributing to the making of future cities.

The project involved fieldwork activities conducted in London and Milan consisting of semi-structured interviews with policy makers, walking interviews with local grassroots organisations, and workshops with civic crowdfunding platforms (based in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Italy) and local authorities (from London and Milan).

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