The Congolese artist Bodys Isek Kingelez provides us with a positive, utopian image of the city of the future, in stark contrast to the chaotic growth that African cities are currently experiencing. His colourful scale models in paper, cardboard and discarded materials are full of references to Kinshasa.

The largely monochrome cities of the Chinese artist Liu Wei seem almost to be abstractions. His critical view provokes thought. His cities are often vertically constructed. The materials he uses include compressed pages of official publications and Chinese schoolbooks.

The American artist Tracey Snelling uses memories, literary motifs and film extracts to forge a virtual universe of diverse cities, cultures and places. Snelling tests our international image culture against local visual languages.

The Belgian architect-artist Luc Schuiten imagines a green, utopian future. He designs sustainable, environmentally-friendly vehicles for his visionary city to ensure its liveability.