In the rise of the contemporary smart city, the role of social imagination in the conception of urban infrastructure is analyzed further. In Harvard GSD professor Antoine Picon's book 'Urban Infrastructure, Imagination, and Politics,' he explores how infrastructure transforms from a material-based network of socio-technical practices run by professional organizations into events and narratives that inspire social imagination.

Beijing Mushroom, as a part of Beijing’s district heating system, has silently existed in the city for many years. Early designers used mushroom sculptures to cover the ground vent facility as part of landscape aesthetics construction. In recent years, perhaps due to its whimsical appearance and contrast to the ordinary daily life surroundings, the mushroom sculptures spark curiosity among netizens, and the existence of this infrastructure is gradually becoming an urban legend on the Chinese internet.

This research explores how social imagination is developed, and to what extent it could be utilized in the design of a smart city.