This keynote focuses on how and why envisioning futures of the built environment is not only valuable as a creative process but also to effect positive change. Within envisioning processes, there are numerous ways of constructing and communicating ideas. We will be exploring the interface when cities and the notion of the future come together. This work aims to contribute towards a better understanding of the power and agency of visions for future built environments. It also provides a framework of critical lenses with which this material may be viewed and in doing so has two functions. First, it enables us to look back over the history of how built environments have been envisioned and identify important patterns and trends to establish those ideas that have been important and endured over time. Second, by revealing the underlying themes and connections of these visions within a much wider body of material, it seeks to inform the production of such depictions for places which have yet to be made by enhancing the knowledge of those who create them. In particular, this keynote will focus on how we then translate visions for futures into action and commitment for the benefit of people, place, and planet.