This summer, the Weisman presents Imagining Future Cities: Global and Minnesota Visions, Past and Present, on view from June 21 - September 14, 2025. This exhibition looks deeply and critically into the enduring pursuit of the Future City, both globally and in Minnesota.
The concept of future cities as a means to create more habitable, just, and sustainable places for people to live, work, and play has captivated visionaries across place and time. Curated by McKnight Land-Grant Professor, University of Minnesota, Dingliang Yang, and organized with a team of University of Minnesota architecture and design faculty and research assistants, this exhibition features architectural and design drawings, diagrams and models accompanied by explanatory and interpretive texts that tell the story of and pose questions about the history and discourse of the meaning and form of the city over the past 150 years. The gallery displays groundbreaking case studies that reimagine the form and function of future cities. Through a perspective that bridges global examples with pivotal projects from Minnesota, Imagining Future Cities fosters dynamic dialogue between international trends and local ingenuity.
Architects, urban planners, artists, civic leaders, and other thinkers have envisioned future human habitats that adapt and shape how humans live on, draw from, and care for the resources of our shared planet. Cities (one of the most complex inventions of human civilization) are constantly evolving and transforming; some changes emerge organically, while others stem from deliberate human intervention through imaginative innovation.
The installations in Imagining Future Cities invite critical reflection on how contemporary urban design can encourage a more sustainable, equitable, and efficient future, while also embracing beauty as an essential dimension of city-making.
Organized thematically, the exhibition presents three distinct approaches to designing future cities. The “Theoretical Approach” explores three utopian visions from the early twentieth century that have influenced the discourse on the city of tomorrow. The “Experimental Approach” highlights five key visions from World’s Fairs that tested, challenged, and ultimately redefined urban norms. The “Perceptual Approach” examines how people experience and interact with evolving urban and natural environments, leading to a contemporary discussion specifically centered on the future city that has a river as its urban spine. The exhibition culminates in an exploration of the Twin Cities as a “River City,” confronting the challenge of balancing urban growth, environmental stewardship, and cultural heritage.
As Minnesota stands at the crossroads of past aspirations and future possibilities, Imagining Future Cities serves as both a reflection and a call to action—urging us to shape the cities of tomorrow today.
This exhibition is curated by McKnight Land-Grant Professor, University of Minnesota, urban designer, and founding partner of vari architects, Dingliang Yang. The exhibition team: Thomas Fisher and Jennifer Yoos, U of M faculty; Michael Keller, research fellow; Beau Gaulin, Silver Muzhe Li, Lewis Bayan Liu, Julian Whitman, Timothy Follett-Dion, Avery Blas, Nick Scott, Isaac Bernal, Julia Brand, Ruth Zaw, Jillian Humphreys, Ryland Sample, Duncan Seltzer, Mia Miao, Julie Zhu, Sydney Kramer, and Adam Gardner, research assistants.
On Wednesday, September 10, WAM will host a public conversation among city leaders, urban planning and policy experts, and architecture scholars on local civic visions of urban futures. Featured speakers include: Former Minneapolis mayor, R.T. Rybak; MIT Vice Provost and professor of Urban Design and Public Policy, Brent Ryan; principal and president of the firm VJAA and head of the U of M School of Architecture, Jennifer Yoos; and exhibition curator Dingliang Yang; moderated by U of M professor of Architecture and director of the Minnesota Design Center, Thomas Fisher. Registration details to come in summer 2025.
Imagining Future Cities is supported in part by the following University of Minnesota entities: College of Design, Imagine Fund, Minnesota Design Center, Research & Innovation Office, and School of Architecture. It is also supported by SOM Foundation, Stratasys, and vari architects. This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a Minnesota State Arts Board Operating Support grant, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund. Additional general operating support is generously provided by Ameriprise Financial. Special thanks to the KHR McNeely Family Foundation, thanks to Kevin, Rosemary, and Hannah Rose McNeely, for their support of the Weisman's exhibitions and exhibition-related programming.
Image credits: (Top) Minnesota Experimental City Authority, Minnesota Experimental City Illustrative Development Plan, Pine Moraine, 1973. Color ink printed on paper. Minnesota Historical Society, Minnesota Experimental City Authority, Design Strategy Statement, Preliminary Report Part 1.0 of Volume V, “Urban Design;” (Bottom) Thomas Fisher, Joseph Hang, Nantida Thao, Xiaotong Liu, Zahra Adibzadeh and Beau Gaulin, Lake Superior City, Perspective View, 2024. Digital color print, courtesy of Minnesota Design Center.
