We are delighted to share our insights to date on the Future of Cities. This is being released before our upcoming event in Singapore on 14 July 2016, to be led by Anupam Yog and Patrick Harris. Future Agenda would like to thank Haworth for their kind hosting of the event on the 14th and The Partners who are kindly helping us with logistics in advance. Material here is from an initial perspective written by Harry Rich, CEO RIBA and which has been built upon subsequently with conversations in Dubai, Christchurch NZ, Singapore and Beiruit. More Future of Cities workshops are planned throughout 2016 for Los Angeles, Shanghai, London and Dubai. Comments very welcome.

1. The
Future
of
Ci-es
Insights
from
Mul0ple
Expert
Discussions
Around
The
World
2015/16

2. Context
An
ini0al
perspec0ve
on
the
Future
of
Ci0es
kicked
off
the
Future
Agenda
global
discussions
and
is
being
steadily
built
on
via
mul0ple
workshops
around
the
world
across
all
five
con0nents
adding
new
views
into
the
mix.
Ini0al
Perspec0ve
Q4
2014
2015
Discussions
Q1/3
2015
Insight
Synthesis
Q4
2015
Further
Discussions
2016

3. Insights
to
Date
To
date
we
have
gained
views
from
many
discussions
around
the
world.
These
have
included
several
events
focused
on
the
topic
of
ci0es
which
have
taken
place
in
Singapore,
Dubai,
Beirut,
Delhi,
London
and
Wellington.

4. Mass
Urbanisa-on
By
2050
over
70%
of
people
will
live
in
a
city.
The
growth
of
mega-­‐ci0es
is
crea0ng
a
new
wave
of
urbanisa0on.
Such
mass
urbanisa0on
requires
us
to
reconsider
how
we
design
ci0es.

5. Consuming
Ci-es
Ci0es
consume
75%
of
the
world’s
natural
resources,
and
produce
more
than
60%
of
GHG
emissions.
As
a
result,
while
the
economic
power
of
ci0es
con0nues
to
grow,
they
remain
vulnerable
to
the
products
of
their
success.

6. Air
Quality
Rising
air
pollu0on
in
many
ci0es
is
killing
people.
Air
quality
is
viewed
as
the
topic
for
changing
mind-­‐sets
and
policies
across
health,
energy,
transporta0on
and
urban
design.

7. Intra
City
Collabora-on
Increasing
compe00on
between
ci0es
extends
beyond
na0onal
borders
and
causes
change.
Ci0es
compete
to
aract
the
best
but
also
collaborate
to
avoid
the
downside
of
success
–
over-­‐crowding,
under-­‐resourcing
and
pollu0on.

8. Built-­‐in
Flexibility
The
path
to
a
connected,
accessible
and
distributed
infrastructure
is
complex,
costly
and
risky.
This
includes
upgrading
systems
to
make
them
more
open
and
alloca0ng
necessary
resources
for
on-­‐going
maintenance.

9. Accelera-ng
Displacement
Climate
change,
conflict,
resource
shortages,
inequality
and
inac0on
from
poli0cal
elites
trigger
unprecedented
migra0on
to
the
North.
Over
the
next
50
years,
as
many
as
1
billion
people
could
be
on
the
move.

10. Ci-zen-­‐Centric
Ci-es
Successful
ci0es
will
be
designed
around
the
needs
and
desires
of
increasingly
empowered
ci0zens
who
expect
personalized
services
from
all
organisa0ons
that
serve
them.

11. Flooded
Ci-es
The
vast
majority
of
our
ci0es
are
not
prepared
for
flooding.
Many
districts
and
households
can
no
longer
get
flood
insurance
and
are
in
jeopardy.
It’s
going
to
get
worse
before
it
gets
beer.

12. Caring
for
Those
LeD
Behind
While
significant
progress
has
been
made,
millions
of
people
con0nue
to
be
lec
behind
from
mainstream
progress
-­‐
especially
the
young,
the
poor
and
those
who
are
disadvantaged.

13. Floa-ng
Ci-es?
Climate
change
poses
a
worrying
challenge
for
ci0es.
Already
50%
of
ci0es
are
dealing
with
its
effects,
and
nearly
all
are
at
risk.
Over
90%
of
all
urban
areas
are
coastal,
pueng
most
ci0es
on
earth
at
risk
of
flooding.

14. Adap-ng
for
Ageing
Popula-ons
In
developed
countries,
80%
of
older
people
will
live
in
ci0es
by
2050,
while
ci0es
in
developing
countries
will
house
25%
of
the
older
popula0on.
Planners
are
adap0ng
urban
environments
to
support
healthy
ageing
of
popula0ons.

15. Crea-ve
Hubs
Ci0es
have
a
long
history
of
fostering
social
and
pragma0c
innova0on.
New
technology
has
enabled
ci0es
to
evolve
and
reinvent
themselves
in
the
face
of
huge
social,
environmental
and
technological
upheaval.

16. Living
Ci-es
As
technology
becomes
more
sophis0cated,
ci0es
focus
on
designing
places
that
address
health
and
environmental
impacts.
This
results
in
more
compact
spaces
that
are
more
appealing
to
poten0al
residents.

17. Digital
Engagement
Ci0es
are
using
digital
plagorms
to
beer
plan
for
the
future
and
encourage
public
engagement.
Using
new
technology
and
big
data
to
support
strategic
planning
of
a
city
can
help
improve
public
engagement
with
the
process.

18. New
Models
and
Measures
We
need
measures
to
help
technology
to
play
a
role
across
boundaries.
Globally,
a
strong
cultural
shic
will
be
required,
moving
away
from
business-­‐as-­‐
usual
to
models
that
enable
economies
to
thrive
within
resource
constraints.

19. People-­‐Powered
Planning
In
an
era
where
the
public
voice
is
easier
to
access
and
harder
to
suppress,
it
becomes
harder
to
generate
support
for
new
ini0a0ves
without
taking
public
views
into
account.
Leaders
will
need
to
maintain
public
and
poli0cal
support.

20. Las-ng
Design
We
need
a
shic
toward
a
circular
economy
that
is
restora0ve,
both
naturally
and
technically.
Buildings
have
to
be
built
to
an0cipate
future
change,
rather
than
using
design
standards
based
on
exis0ng
condi0ons.

21. Healthy
Ci-es
Approaches
that
encourage
healthier
urban
dwellers
will
improve
design
of
ci0es
with
reduced
healthcare
costs,
increased
produc0vity,
more
community
resilience,
improved
life
expectancy
and
fewer
demands
on
health
services.

22. Coopera-on
Across
Boundaries
Ci0es
need
more
coopera0ve
government
working
across
systems
and
boundaries.
This
includes
a
focus
on
long-­‐term
benefits
to
society,
par0cularly
with
regard
to
planning
and
investment.

23. Dense
Ci-es
As
urban
migra0on
increases,
more
efficient,
densely
populated
ci0es
like
Paris
and
Hong
Kong
are
the
blueprints
for
sustainable
places
to
live
instead
of
distributed
sprawls
such
as
Los
Angeles
and
Mexico
City.

24. Public-­‐Private
City
Partnerships
To
address
major
urban
challenges,
as
shown
by
Medellin
in
Colombia,
governments
increasingly
openly
collaborate
with
business
to
improve
the
ins0tu0onal
fabric
of
ci0es
as
well
as
core
infrastructure.

25. Safe
Ci-es
Urban
dwellers
expect
their
ci0es
to
be
secure.
Increased
monitoring
of
human
behaviour
and
surveillance
improves
the
sense
of
physical
security
but
at
the
cost
of
increased
fears
over
personal
data
and
loss
of
privacy.

26. Pop-­‐up
Economies
Crowd-­‐sourcing
will
enable
‘instant
economies’
where
communi0es
pool
resources
and
so
reduce
the
need
for
government
involvement.
The
downside
is
that
communi0es
create
their
own
iden0ty
making
“them
and
us”
obvious.

27. Public
Spaces
Governments
are
pressured
to
ensure
that
public
spaces
are
created
and
retained
–
Places
where
people
can
meet,
congregate,
relax,
even
where
land
is
valuable
and
constrained,
are
prized
focal
points
for
society.

28. Satellite
Ci-es
The
growth
of
satellite
ci0es
and
networks
of
midi-­‐ci0es
in
many
regions
is
seen
as
a
preferred
route
to
more
mega-­‐city
development.
Connected
by
fast
infrastructure,
these
act
collec0vely
economically
but
in
a
sustainable
manner.

29. Waste
Management
As
ci0es
become
ever
more
densely
populated,
new
approaches
to
waste
management
will
be
introduced.
Especially
in
fast-­‐growing
mega-­‐ci0es,
waste
is
seen
as
a
resource
and
a
source
of
energy.

30. Rural
Upgrade
We
will
see
some
regions
give
less
focus
to
ci0es
and
place
more
emphasis
on
upgrading
rural
infrastructure
and
connec0vity.
This
will
help
slow
the
push
of
migra0on
and
urbanisa0on
and
rejuvenate
life
in
villages.

31. Rebalancing
the
Transport
Mix
Increased
conges0on
and
growing
popula0ons
leads
to
the
reintroduc0on
of
public
transport
systems
into
ci0es
where
the
car
has
become
dominant.
Improving
health,
produc0vity
and
overall
mobility
are
seen
as
priori0es.

32. Cross
Society
Leadership
In
ci0es
where
local
differences
have
led
to
inac0on
and
regression,
greater
efforts
are
made
by
the
next
genera0on
to
drive
progress,
cross
divides
and
increase
collabora0on
around
common
needs
for
more
livable
ci0es.

33. Walkable
Ci-es
Compact
spaces
are
made
more
appealing
to
urban
dwellers
with
a
focus
on
health,
environment
and
sustainability.
‘Work,
live,
play’
clusters
in
ci0es
allow
residents
to
access
different
ac0vi0es
all
embedded
in
one
area.

34. Inclusive
Design
Tradi0onal
forms
of
lifestyle,
employment
and
educa0on
are
replaced.
Seeing
0me
as
a
finite
resource
means
that
ci0es
are
beer
connected
and
spaces
are
beer
integrated
to
provide
a
more
equitable
arrangement
for
all.

35. Wellness
Sanctuaries
Ci0es
are
not
just
measured
by
their
output
but
by
the
longevity
and
happiness
of
city
dwellers.
Reconnec0ng
people
with
each
other
and
their
city
brings
increased
access
to
healthcare,
green
spaces
and
increased
mobility.

36. Local
Food
Ci0es
are
more
‘edible’.
Increased
transparency
around
food
availability
and
land
use
causes
ci0es
to
incorporate
more
urban
farming
spaces.
Innova0ve
produc0ve
systems
allow
residents
beer
access
to
local,
fresh
food.

37. Responsibili-es
Beyond
City
Limits
Ci0es
recognise
that
they
can
not
exist
without
the
de-­‐urbanised
world.
Hong
Kong,
for
example,
imports
90%
of
its
food.
Ci0es
have
responsibility
beyond
their
borders
and
are
more
involved
in
surrounding
and
global
ecosystems.

38. Poli-cal
Construct
of
Ci-es
Ci0es
are
increasingly
designed
to
reflect
a
par0cipatory
ci0zenship.
The
rising
power
of
ci0zens
and
brands
means
that
governments
must
cooperate
with
the
private
sector
and
the
mass
to
address
urban
development
challenges.

39. Future
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