Living otherwise in uncertain and speculative times

Abstract

Speculation has come to define the current conjuncture in myriad ways, from the structural hegemony of finance capital to the ways that people and communities are always thinking about and remaking their futures. In this brief commentary, I draw out five ways in which the articles in this special issue advance our understanding of speculation in the contemporary moment: speculative urbanism's temporalities, geographies, undersides, more-than-human materialities, and articulations. I also pose questions of where the concept of speculation might lead, hoping to further enflesh this analytic from the perspectives of different socio-spatial positionalities across the globe. I ultimately consider how storytelling and future envisionings are already leading people to live life otherwise in uncertain and speculative times.