Luma Fonseca, University of Turku. luma.fonsecaalves@utu.fi
City of tomorrow
The way we shape the future of cities is changing. Instead of relying only on solitary, poetic visions of what urban life could be, the emphasis is now on how digital technologies can allow people to imagine and visualize alternative futures together, to share knowledge openly, and to build on one another’s insights. In this sense, the city of tomorrow is less about individual imagination and more about collective intelligence, with people working side by side with digital mediation to co-create the places they want to live in. Moreover, the increasing concern about cities´ environmental impacts highlights the need to develop resilient, nature-integrated urban spaces that can bring ecological and social benefits to the landscape.
Motivated by these reflections, we have asked ourselves… how can digital technologies – especially image generative AI – help communities take an active role in shaping the green future of their neighborhoods? Imagine not just commenting on pre-existing projects or brainstorming ideas and plans abstractly, but rather, seeing voiced ideas and visions instantly coming to life in new designs and learning about the benefits that urban nature can bring.
To explore this, we performed a series of workshops with citizens and urban practitioners, where they co-created alternative visions of greener, healthier city spaces using the AI as a creative partner. The results? Surprising insights and a glimpse into how digital tools can amplify community voices, as well as the challenges of incorporating these types of technology during the co-development of sustainable urban spaces.
Workshops with citizens and urban practitioners
During the first half of 2025, we prepared intensively for the workshops that happened between the months of March and June, with the residents of Halinen and Jyrkkällä neighborhoods, as well as Turku urban practitioners involved in urban planning, urban ecology, social studies, construction control, greenspace maintenance, environmental protection, and sustainable mobility.
Gathering participation was quite a challenge, especially when it came to residents. After all, let’s be honest…convincing someone to give up two and a half hours of their evening for something new and unfamiliar to them isn’t the easiest task. But we didn’t let that stop us.
When the workshop days came, the scene was settled: four computer screens, some chairs and tables, and trained facilitators and observers ready to work. The co-design process began, and people started to explore ideas with each other and with the AI tool. Observing how these interactions happened and the different reactions to the AI outputs was interesting.
Emotions and feelings towards AI in the workshop
The emotions in the room were like a rollercoaster. Colorful, complex, multi-element, and realistic. The situation generated scenes sparked surprise and enthusiasm – “now that looks good!” – while visually unsatisfying scenes, such as those with unrealistic shapes, scale, and perspectives, were received with disappointment, frustration, or even laughter. At times, participants responded to these “awful” and “odd” outputs with understanding, recognizing the tool’s limitations and, in effect, excusing its inconsistencies and incongruencies with comments such as: “That’s what AI is like”.
Amidst varied reactions, mostly participants kept actively engaged and focused throughout the process of creating visions with the AI. They looked at images carefully and with interest and would eagerly await the new set of generated images, although the waiting time for generation would provoke occasional dispersions and signs of tiredness. The experience of composing the landscape with different elements and selecting their preferred one between the generated images caused amusement among participants, with some even comparing the experience to “playing a video game”.
To bring the community’s AI-generated visions closer to reality, we gathered Turku’s urban practitioners together to explore a key question: how could these imaginative scenes be translated into real-world urban practice? The discussion opened up not only the practical potential of the community’s ideas but also the role of generative AI as a support tool for co-designing greener, more livable urban landscapes.
It is by changing people´s roles from commentators to co-designers that we aim to foster a more informed and inclusive sustainable urban planning, bridging the collective intelligence with practical urban solutions.
References
- University of Turku. (2025). Workshop report.
https://sites.utu.fi/landscape/wp-content/uploads/sites/1234/2025/09/UBP_UrbanistAI_UTUraportti_.pdf
3.10.2025.
