ANTICIPATE CREDIBLE FUTURES  Infrastructure

How can a global technology and infrastructure company best prepare to meet the needs of future urban dwellers?

We helped our client understand how disruptive changes such as new mobility services, BREXIT, and an ageing population could impact the future of urban environments in Europe.

To do this, we interviewed topic experts in different domains. We delivered “future shifts” that illustrate the evolution of key changes in time, as well as “scenarios” that depict how those changes will intersect and manifest in specific cities.

CHALLENGE

To inform the company’s strategic decision-making, our client wanted to identify the major shifts that will define cities in the medium to large term future. They understood cities as manifesting the most significant changes to technology, infrastructure and social organisation, and wanted to create credible scenarios of what European cities may look like by 2030.

APPROACH

We interviewed over twenty-five topic experts across different knowledge areas such as mobility, retail, telecom, urban planning, and health to surface the most relevant trends impacting urban environments. We analysed multiple industry reports for each trend and fleshed-out the evolution of the most relevant shifts over the short, mid and long-term. For each shift we developed different scenarios of how things could evolve, as well as potential obstacles and people’s point of view. Finally, we held a co-creation workshop to build future scenarios for three selected European cities.

IMPACT

The tools we developed – twelve detailed shifts and three city-specific scenarios – are being used to ground the client’s business strategy in a sound understanding of the future of urban environments. More specifically, this new knowledge is informing the discussions centered around the location and potential move of the company’s headquarters.