Black Panther’s Utopian Project: The Innovative Potential of Fiction and Speculation by Non-Architects

From games to film to literature, images of utopia in media have been successful in generating fictional worlds with high aspirational values. The process of creation for these utopias is not unidirectional; unlike typical design methods, designing for fiction requires a cyclical approach wherein creators draw inspiration from the real world and, in turn, use them as the basis for their own process of innovation. The final product—‘fictional’ and ‘utopian’ in nature—then influences the field from which it drew inspiration. For architecture and urban design, the ideation of fictional utopias and futures facilitates place-making for and inclusion of groups of people who are often excluded or oppressed by the architectural project. The participation of non-architects in the creation of utopias generates ideas and learning for mainstream architecture and its adjacent fields. In this sense, the process of fiction creation mitigates exclusivity and eliminates architecture’s barriers to participation. Using Hannah Beachler’s fictional city of Wakanda for Black Panther (2018) as a case study, we argue that utopian ideation by non-architects has the potential to create immense possibilities for their design principles to be adapted into real life architectural projects. In our academic paper, we question: How does a production designer with a non-architectural background draw inspiration from Zaha Hadid’s futuristic buildings to create an utopian city at the intersection of tradition and technological innovation? Furthermore, what can architects borrow from a non-architect’s fiction? Finally, by way of its design process, how does fictional architectural ideation differ from intra-disciplinary speculation?