Imagining and Writing Protopian Futures for New York City

"Protopian” is a word coined by Kevin Kelly, the founder of WIRED Magazine and one of the judges of the Protopian Prize Fiction Contest . The term means futures that are achievable and optimistic, characterized by continuous, incremental progress rather than revolutionary leaps or a static, perfect state. In this workshop, we'll introduce participants to the practice of protopian futuring, walk through different imagination exercises, fiction writing prompts, and collective future-weaving that will help us co-create pathways to a future of New York City that's workably better than today. Inspired by the contest's two prize categories (Public AI & Democratic Futures), we will explore visions of public infrastructure that are even more public ; where AI is serving the public good in creative ways; where democratic processes are inspiring enthusiastic participation ; where open source, civic technology is dominating the tech scene ; and perhaps much more. We can try using the 12 civic tech recommendations from Hey Mamdani! as a starting point for inspiration to imagine protopian…