Textual history of the future city: Retrofuturism as an algorithm

The purpose of the article is to study the algorithms and patterns of social perception of the ‘city of the future’. The following provisions are conceptualized: the social perception of the ‘city of the future’ is determined by the discourse of the city of the past and, thus, is textualized; the cognitive algorithm of social perception of the future is similar to the algorithm of perception of the past; the perception of the past is as subjective as the perception of the future. The institute of epistemological prognostics is proposed as a conceptual basis for planning the city of the future, in the matrix of which ‘development clusters’ occupy a special place. These clusters are similar to the once empty cells of the periodic table and inevitably find their fulfillment in the process of intellectual communication between scientists and practitioners.