Cities are promising machines always holding out prospects for better lives, always attempting to guarantee that things will not remain the same and that whatever changes do ensue are for the better. We propose a notion of “promise” not as simply another descriptor in a long line of adjectives about the city. Rather, we argue that the urban institutional landscape constantly generates new promises as way of anticipation, which in turn allows residents to write themselves into select urban operations. This article engages two central districts in Rio de Janeiro and Jakarta to explore how residents “stand by” the promise, not of passive waiting, but as maneuvers of either staying tuned to or as way of tactical detachment from the multiple trajectories which have been conjured up in the here and now. We understand these maneuvers as acts of “minor” future making that rely upon practices and materials that may seem of little use, but which enable a process of incremental small adjustments and collective subversion of urban trajectories of the transitory.

城市是有前途的机器，总是提供更好的生活前景，总是试图保证事情不会保持不变，并且无论发生什么变化都是为了更好。我们提出了“承诺”的概念，而不只是一长串关于城市的形容词中的另一个描述符。相反，我们认为，城市制度格局会不断产生新的希望，以此作为一种期待的方式，这反过来又使居民能够将自己写成精选的城市运作。本文涉及里约热内卢和雅加达的两个中心地区，以探讨居民如何“信守”诺言，而不是被动等待，而是作为不断调整的策略或战术脱离已经想到的多种轨迹的策略在这里和现在。