What makes a city a good place to live? Is it the public spaces where people gather, the wetlands and green spaces that offer relief from the heat, or the communities that bring neighbourhoods to life? Emergence: Festival of Future Cities brings these questions to Panjim through interactive games, musical performances, film screenings, storytelling and nature walks, offering residents new ways to explore the future of their city.
Organised by Transitions Research, the festival will run from 29 to 31 October 2026, with more than 30 events across venues including Sunaparanta Goa Centre for the Arts, Kala Academy, the Central Library and the Imagine Panaji Smart City Development Ltd. (IPSCDL) premises. The programme brings together researchers, practitioners, city leaders, artists and citizens to explore the future of India’s small and medium-sized cities.
One of the festival’s highlights is Playable Panjim, a curated arcade of board games, negotiation games and interactive experiences exploring the decisions that shape urban life, from mobility and housing to energy and public spaces. Those looking to explore how community action can shape urban living can also join WISE Cities: Panjim Reimagined, which examines practical neighbourhood- and city-level actions to build collective ownership and move beyond an infrastructure-focused model toward inclusive, sustainable, and well-being-oriented cities.
Art, storytelling and performance feature prominently in the programme. At Sunaparanta, Scorched: Exhibition on Heat and an Exhibition on Wetlands explore two important aspects of Goa’s changing environment. Visitors can also explore the Small City Narratives showcase, which brings together reels, short films, fiction readings, and graphic strips imagining the city’s future.
At Kala Academy, film screenings such as People Within the System and The City We Build, the Lives We Overlook examines culture and urban life. Earth, Unplugged combines a participatory music session with a street play on urban waste written by award-winning playwright Jyoti Mhapsekar. At Krishnadas Shama Goa State Central, Patto, a high energy musical drama on heat, The Great Indian Ukada brings climate change, heat and wildlife to the stage through theatre and performance.
Other creative sessions invite participants to explore how cities and climate change are represented and understood. Who Shapes the Story of Our Cities? explores the narratives that influence how urban places are perceived. Thermocene: Speculations on Warmer Worlds offers another way to consider life in a warming world, while Make Your Own Climate Recipes on Multispecies Co-existence explores relationships between people and other living beings.
The programme also includes opportunities to work through everyday urban challenges. Welcome to Kachra Crisis Housing Society uses an interactive simulation to explore waste segregation and the factors that influence household participation..
The festival also creates space for people to connect with the places they live in and the opportunities emerging around them. City Minds: The Emotional Life of an Emerging City invites people to reflect on how urban change and climate affect their relationship with their surroundings and their wellbeing. Map Your Climate Career introduces participants to opportunities in the green economy, while Naata Shahi and Solutioning on Social Crises: Solver Jam offer further opportunities to explore community connections and collaborative problem-solving.
The festival takes participants beyond the city into Goa’s wetlands. Designing with Nature: Wetland Walk & Community Hour invites participants to explore the ecological landscapes that sustain Goa’s urban environments.
Across several locations in Panaji, Emergence brings together a varied programme for anyone curious about how cities work and how they might evolve. Whether through a game, a performance, a workshop or a walk, the festival offers different ways to explore the ideas and experiences shaping Goa’s urban future.
Entry is free! Register soon at emergencefestival.in, as seats are limited.
