This paper introduces a special issue on Urban Futures, including selected papers from a joint conference of the Network Association of European Researchers on Urbanisation in the South (N-AERUS) and the GIS in Developing Countries network (GISDECO) held at the University of Twente, the Netherlands, from 12 to 14 September 2013. This conference focussed on the observation that current urbanization trends are leading to multiple futures affecting global development. One of the challenges is how to understand these uncertain processes from cross and multidisciplinary perspectives. Thus, the themes covered in the papers included 1.) Spatial information and urbanizing futures; 2.) Crises and futures: How cities and urban regions prepare to cope with socio-economic and environmental crises; 3.) Planning, policy and futures: How at local scale we design for better urban futures development; and 4.) Tales from the future: Innovative approaches both in methodological terms and theoretical perspectives.