Guest-edited by Marcus White and Jane Burry Cities are facing several coinciding global crises. There is the dominant existential narrative of the impact of and adaptation to climate change, itself powered by cities. In a time of unprecedented urbanisation and growth, resilient architecture and urbanism is needed in response. New modes of transport, renewed anxiety about robots taking jobs, AI, and the humbling recent experience of a global pandemic are all challenging norms and expectations. All of these are forces of social division, all are changing life experience, evoking strong-arm politics, and giving a sense of teetering between radically different possible futures. This is a story about reclaiming the urban design narrative and being alert to the potential impacts of socio-technical decision-making and design in cities. It is a story for its time. The issue explores the dichotomy of idealised visions for the design of urban settlements and the potentially shocking realities that may emerge from the same impulses and intentions. It examines the slippery territory between utopias and some of the ensuing dystopias that may unfold. Contributors: Tridib Banerjee, Steve Glackin, Justyna Karakiewicz, Nano Langenheim and Kongjian Yu, Mehrnoush Latifi, Andong Lu, Dan Nyandega, Jordi Oliveras, Kas Oosterhuis, Claudia Pasquero and Marco Poletto, Carlo Ratti, Ian Woodcock, and Tianyi Yang. Featured architects: Carlo Ratti Associati, ecoLogicStudio, Harrison and White, and Turenscape.

In 1964 Dr Everett Shostrom, a psychologist from California, produced a series of educational films titled "Three Approaches to Psychotherapy", therein filming complete psychotherapy sessions for the very first time. Three celebrated therapists demonstrated their models on a willing client called Gloria. Dr Shostrom had asked Gloria to be prepared to discuss, on film, a subject that was currently troubling her as a recently divorced mother - dating men and dealing with direct questions about her sex life from her fourth-grade daughter, 'Pammy'. At the time, the topic had pith, intrigue and moral uncertainty. Although the interviews quickly diverged from sex, an aura remained that underscored the state of psychotherapy, the era of the mid-60s, and the evolving consciousness and 'liberation' of women during that decade.Immediately upon the release of the films, reverberations began. They were translated into multiple languages and became a regular part of the college curriculum in psychology departments in the USA and abroad. The three therapists - Carl Rogers, Albert Ellis and Fritz Perls - were solicited for their responses and evaluations; the films were, controversially, shown in theatres and on TV. There was a lawsuit and a life-long relationship. The success of the films was said to be down to 'Gloria's genius'. Countless papers, theories, rumours and idiosyncratic research titbits circulated about Gloria and the films, yet what she experienced, how she was treated after the filming and how her personal life evolved, was never fully revealed. She had brilliantly happy moments, devoted relationships and profound loss. Her generosity with her time and spirit was her spark of grace.This beautifully written memoir blends the intimacies of family life, intuitive characterisation and an insight into the development of psychotherapy in California in the 60s. Gloria's daughter Pamela J Burry ('Pammy'), whose innocent question sparked Gloria's disquiet, has woven together a legacy of letters, notes, transcripts, tapes, articles and her own memories to write about a life which became the subject of much academic analysis, moral outrage, rumours of suicide and speculation in the years following the release of "Three Approaches to Psychotherapy", more popularly known as 'The Gloria Films'.