Neo-futuristic Walks

Neo-futuristic Walks is an alternative urban research and design practice initiated by us - two spatial designers and urban researchers - Aušra Česnauskytė and Goda Verikaitė. Educated as architects, we noticed the lack of imagination and context-sensitive approach within dominant city-making methods. While looking for new ways to hack those processes, we decided to start our own urban laboratory where we combine architectural and speculative design with performative practices. Neo-futuristic Walks emerged as a collective experiment encouraging creative engagement with urban spaces.

The main principles we follow within our practice are:
1. Engage with climate emergencies - We feel responsible for raising awareness about the toxic imprints on climate caused by the standardised city-making processes. Our walks are our tools to counteract them.
2. Stimulate collective imagination - We believe storytelling can create a reflective distance from everyday life, thus holding the power to shift our urban lifestyles towards more sustainable futures.
3. Gathering community around the project - by constantly testing and adjusting new modes of interaction, we foster collaboration among experts and participants.

We started working together in 2020 when we joined forces to develop the Neo-futuristic Walks as an alternative educational program for architecture students in Vilnius and London. This program resulted in two performative tours in both locations. Later, we started organising a series of “walkshops”, which took place in various cities across Europe. We participated in multiple design festivals, including the Dutch Design Week (2021), the London Festival of Architecture (2021), the symposium of the Politics of Space in Vilnius (2022), Walking as Research Practice conference in Amsterdam (2022). This year, we were part of the ECO Solidarity 2023 programme at the WantedDesign Manhattan 2023.