Politics & Governance / Public Policy / Urban Planning & Governance
How Cities Invented the Future: From Lisbon's Earthquake to Lagos' Slums
The Invention of the Future: A History of Cities in the Modern World
Did you know that the way we think about the future was literally built into our cities? This video explores Bruno Carvalho's groundbreaking book, 'The Invention of the Future: A History of Cities in the Modern World'. We trace the evolution of urban planning from the 1755 Lisbon earthquake—which shattered divine explanations and sparked secular city design—to the sprawling mega-cities of today. Discover how the Manhattan grid wasn't just a map but a bet on capitalism's endless growth, and how Parisian boulevards were tools of social control. We'll contrast the rigid utopias of Brasília with the self-organizing chaos of Lagos's Makoko slum. You'll learn why the global urban center of gravity is shifting away from the Atlantic, and why the most successful cities embrace flux over fixed master plans. This isn't just a history lesson; it's a revelation about how our built environment shapes our very sense of possibility.
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