The city as shapeshifter poses a genuine conundrum for those who seek to shape urban change to achieve more sustainable, just and regenerative ways of being. Amidst the speed, magnitude and complexity of a climate of change, the urban age will defy conventional political and planning boundaries. Whereas cities were once seen as the problem in terms of crime, sprawl, congestion, poverty, social alienation, slums, and pollution, they are now viewed as opportunities for furthering economic, democratic, and regenerative futures. More than providing prescriptive definitions about cities, this course will contextualise how diverse and often conflicting ideas, materials and relations are enmeshed by urbanisation, unevenly affecting places and territories across Planet Earth. This course will provide the skills, knowledge and examples for you to critically engage with contemporary processes of urbanisation and urban life, reflecting on the challenges and opportunities to envision practical utopias through speculative futures and grounded realities.