What happens if we refer to the countryside as center and redefine peripheries? How does the flow between cities and countryside look like and can we use it better and smarter in the future? And what do we need to do to make radical imagination of future living in the countryside and in cities become reality?

Rural, remote, and wild territories, are collectively identified as “countryside” or “peripheral” areas. Yet, these areas take up 98% of the Earth’s surface. When we think of these areas, we often tend to bring up the disadvantages compared to more urbanised places, often referred to as center. Researchers usually study either the city or the countryside.

At the same time there is a constant flow between cities and countryside. The Covid 19 pandemic, digitization as well as global societal challenges like climate change, puts also the discussion about countryside and cities in a different light. 

This was also the topic of the exhibition “Countryside, the Future” at the Guggenheim Museum in New York in 2020 and 2021, which we use as a starting point.

Yotam Ben-Hur, architect, designer, and researcher, now working at Harvard University School of Design and Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF) start with a keynote, followed by a talk with Jan Åman, Curator and consultant now working Duved Framtid in Jämtland, in the middle of Sweden, and Caroline Wigren-Kristoferson, Professor in Urban studies, Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Malmö University.

Our host is Johanna Koljonen, a well-known and popular Finnish-Swedish media analyst, author and experience designer with a background within broadcasting.