Worldmaking

Worldmaking has become a significant part of urban projects in the twenty-first century, as the evolution of technology has allowed urban planners, designers, and developers to imagine new urban worlds that fully transform the perceptual worlds of those who experience urban space. In this chapter, I explore the concept of worldmaking and discuss how it is employed in affective urbanism to create urban spacetimes for the experience economyExperience economy by redistributing the sensible in consumption and tourism areas. Such worldmaking interventions tend to generate concerns about the spectacularization of urban life and disneyfication of urban communities, leading to conflicts about the identity and authenticity of a place. With this in mind, I reflect upon the potential of participatory initiatives that have sought to protect or promote the everyday worldmaking capacities of urban dwellers. More specifically, I draw upon the case of the Living Streets initiative as an example of how worldmaking can be applied in urbanism beyond the scope of the experience economy.