Shaping Urban Common: Chicago

Join us for an interactive workshop exploring current urban challenges in downtown Chicago. Through a collaborative game, participants will imagine, debate, and negotiate how spaces, resources, and infrastructures can be collectively shaped to address today’s environmental challenges in cities.

At the heart of the workshop is a fictional data center set to occupy all the vacant spaces in downtown Chicago. Through this provocation, we will examine the broader implications of such a proposal for the future of downtown, questioning whether it might exacerbate existing environmental and social inequities within Chicago’s urban landscape or, conversely, open unforeseen pathways for innovation, resilience, and collective opportunity by exploring alternatives such as hydroponic farming, indoor playgrounds, educational institutions, housing and other civic-minded programs.

Building on these parameters, participants are invited to take part in an interactive game that encourages critical dialogue and creative thinking about an alternative future for downtown Chicago—examining how the city might evolve through a counterproposal that reimagines the role of the proposed data center. Take part in this creative exploration and help shape ideas for a more sustainable and inclusive future for downtown Chicago.

This event is presented in conjunction with the Chicago Architecture Biennial (CAB) as part of It was conceived by Petra Kempf (Washington University in St. Louis) in collaboration with Chana Haouzi (CAB) and Lucia Pedrana and Hadi El Hage (European Cultural Centre, Venice, Italy). Support for the program is provided by the European Cultural Centre.

Note: While the game includes 24 active players, everyone in the room participates in the experience, observing, interpreting, and influencing how the scenario unfolds. Players will be selected by lottery on the day of the event.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

Get App

Host or Publisher Chicago Architecture Biennial