It is now clear that a social and spatial transition is needed to meet the 2030 climate targets. Numerous debates, conferences, biennials and academic publications have appeared with clockwork regularity in recent years to highlight the urgency of this shift. The general public, too, is becoming increasingly aware of the dangerous consequences of climate change, such as drought, flooding, shortages of raw materials and food, and social inequality.

Rather than overwhelming visitors with general diagrams, charts and simulations of possible future doomsday scenarios, the exhibition ‘Prefigurations’ displays photographs, plans and models of some forty concrete, realised architectural projects in Flanders and Brussels. Each and every one of these projects lays the groundwork for a structural, systematic shift towards a world with renewable energy, sustainable food production and mobility, a circular economy, a caring living environment and an inclusive labour market. Tangible example projects from the here and now, whilst looking to the future. They are places of the future, because in some modest yet pioneering way, they aim to realise the ambitious goals we have set ourselves for 2030.