Departing from a theoretical discussion of the relationship between anthropology and the city, we problematize the foundations of both urban and anthropological studies. Rather than viewing the city as a stable and universal category, we emphasize the possibilities anthropology has to approach cities as products of historically-situated social practices. We illustrate this proposal by focusing on urbanistic projects in the city of Bogotá during three historical moments and by analyzing contemporary imaginations of the cities of the future.