The lens of the Glossy Urban Dystopia

Abstract

In the current post-crises, post-pandemic (and post-political) conjuncture, the future is often por- trayed cladded with potential emergencies and disasters. Post-disaster films and novels have created numerous imaginaries of dystopic futures – some eerily familiar. Similarly, critical theorists have highlighted the rising tendencies of governments and institutions to use future emergencies in order to justify further securitization, pacification coercive governmentalities and inequalities/injustices (Anderson, 2017). If we also consider the current increase of future research (and studies), then one might argue that the future is here in the present (especially since the present seems an untenable situation to deal with or to change).