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In a world of quarterly capitalism and four year election cycles, our institutions and organisations are programmed to think short term. But the places we design and build may be around for decades, or even centuries. The world is becoming increasingly uncertain, so it's vital that we all develop our 'futures literacy' skills - a concept that UNESCO defines as fluency and confidence in imagining what's to come.
The toolkit is a highly flexible kit of parts to allow teams to shape a process according to their project scope, community, aims and content, and is also supported by a fun and accessible card game.
We’ve drawn together tools from filmmaking, trends forecasting, service design, community engagement and meditation to name a few. This unique combination can enable place practitioners to bring futures and foresight practices, greater empathy and creativity into their planning work.
Despite the challenges ahead, we remain optimistic about the future of our cities and landscapes. Through sharing these tools we widen the expertise needed to face this future together.
The toolkit is broken down into 4 stages. Each leg of this journey has a unique part to play - from warming up, to gathering information, getting creative and putting ideas into action.
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Online or in person training sessions featuring a diagnostic workshop to identify aims and objectives. A tailored package to ensure you can deliver the workshops with confidence.
Organisations and institutions looking to skill up their internal teams with a bit of a helping hand to get started.
The light touch: A pack of flash cards featuring 30 accessible, adapted versions of toolkit exercises. Available in English, Spanish and Italian.
Great for younger students, or accessible for anyone with a curiosity about place to pick up and work through on their own.
The deep dive: Available as a 119 page PDF featuring 31 workshop exercises and supported by how-to guides and downloadable templates. A printed version is available on request.
Facilitators and educators with a project to coordinate. This might be a professional business or a community-led organisation.
Since launching the Beta version of the Collaborative Place Futures Toolkit, we're proud to have seen it in use by educators, urbanists and communities around the world.
We’d love to hear about your experience of using the Toolkit, if it’s helped to guide your work in shaping places, please get in touch!
Here are a few organisations making use of the Toolkit:
○ The Bartlett: UCL postgraduate module and short course ‘Civic Design: Community Participation and Co-production’
○ Great Rivers Greenway, Missouri
○ Municipal Arts Society, NY
○ Diagol City EU
○ Fondazione Innovazione Urbana, Bologna