HEATCON
An annual gathering for climate practitioners and creatives to embody wildly resilient futures
October 21-22
start.bahn (Genezarethkirche)
Berlin, Germany
Why now?
Humanity is on the brink of a weird and non-linear climate experimentation: our planetary thermostat is shooting up and we must adapt to a fast warming, drastically changing world.
HEATCON gathers decision-makers, people on the front lines of climate adaptation, and creatives to embark across imaginations of transformative resilience. What happens when a warming climate, rapid decarbonisation, climate justice, and degrowth are fused and reacted into new, ever more resilient possibilities?
HEATCON delegates learn from each other’s experiences and imaginations–as resilient futures are brought to life through immersive theater, live action role play, and co-creation.
Join us for Urban Heat Studio’s second annual half-real, half-fictional ‘conference’. Step into possibilities with us and reflect on the actions, governance, and culture required as we transition to more resilient futures.
Experiential futures allow us to step into radically different “worlds”, and critique today’s situations in the light of desired future states.
– Dan Lockton & Stuart Candy
Program
Saturday, October 21 – Immersion
Upon arrival in Berlin, we will take the time to connect and build community over simple snacks. We will explore an immersive, alternative scenario through a series of curated activities, performances and situations. We will close the day with a community dinner.
Sunday, October 22 – Sense Making
We’ll kick off day two with a breakfast. Then, we’ll make sense of our experiences from the immersion in our current reality to create pathways forward. We will close with a community potluck picnic.
FAQs
What is the Urban Heat Studio?
We are a studio collective for transformative climate resilience and imagination. We gather people together to break down the time barriers between climate impacts that could happen tomorrow and the structures and injustices today that make us brittle in the face of planetary-wide change. We create playful, immersive experiences for people to work through uncomfortable emotions, change perspectives about barriers and opportunities, and build new stories together that spark radical action.
Since 2020, we have hosted climate scenario exercises for Berlin-based policy makers, Danish sustainability consultants and local creatives, we have run workshops with climate and social organizations, and hosted urban interventions with creative institutions. And sometimes the city is the client, and we gather the right people and resources to make things happen.
What is HeatCon?
HeatCon is an annual gathering for climate practitioners and creatives to embody wildly resilient futures. It is a half real, half fictional conference – an immersive experience of a climate scenario and a space for reflection, community, and action.
Who attends HeatCon?
Decision-makers, people on the front lines of climate adaptation, and creatives embarking across imaginations of transformative resilience. In the past, we have had climate adaptation managers and city officials, climate medical professionals and emergency responders, urban planners and facility managers.