Genuine engagement about how best to achieve liveable urban futures should be part of planning's raison-d'etre but it has a chequered history of delivery. Exhibitions harnessing the communicative power of mixed media and linked to a progressive and responsive programme of focused discussion and debate remain relevant to community consultation and civic engagement. Terry Farrell's concept of the 'urban room' to involve citizens in engaging with the past, present, and future of towns and cities offers a contemporary refreshment of the approach propounded by Patrick Geddes from the early 1900s. The possibilities of creating novel and compelling opportunities for civic discourse in this guise are explored in this review article though the Newcastle City Futures pop-up exhibition and events held in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK in 2014. This event carries lessons for imagining how planners, developers, governments, and community groups may come together to critically and creatively forge future propositions for the urban condition.

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In 1972, David Prichard joined Richard MacCormac and Peter Jamieson to form the architectural practice of MacCormac Jamieson Prichard [1]. He has contributed to the design and delivery of residential masterplans and developments across the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, including in the New Towns of Milton Keynes, Cwmbrân, Warrington, Basildon and the London Docklands, and leading the Ballymun Regeneration Masterplan.

Mark Latham is an advocate of modern methods of construction in residential design and development. He reflects upon how contemporary approaches to modular housing can reshape residents’ experiences of suburban settings.