Better cities begin with bold imagination.
IF/ Design Labs is a think tank and design laboratory for urban futures.
We work with communities, researchers, and change-makers to explore what cities could become, and combine research, imagination, and strategic design to help us get there.
About us
IF/ Design Labs exists to help people imagine better urban futures.
We believe imagination is not a luxury, but a civic necessity. In a time of climate uncertainty, demographic change, and economic transition, the ability to think creatively about what’s possible is essential for shaping places where communities and nature can thrive.
Led by Thomas Bryans and Devorah Block, IF/ works at the intersection of research, design, and learning, bringing people together to explore bold possibilities for their neighbourhoods and cities.
Our interdisciplinary approach combines spatial practice and learning design, giving us a unique perspective on how knowledge and creativity can empower collective agency in shaping the built environment. We convene communities, organisations, and institutions to reimagine the futures of place.
Whether shaping vision, informing design, or influencing policy, we create the conditions for better cities to start with bold imagination.
Our Approach
Inspire
We cultivate collective imagination to envision thriving urban futures. Place Futuring helps communities and practitioners stretch their sense of possibility.
Empower
We build the skills to read, interpret, and engage with the world around us. Place Literacy is our foundation, fostering critical awareness and contextual understanding
Connect
We build relationships that turn ideas into impact. Our Labs are spaces for collaboration, bringing together diverse groups to address complex urban challenges.
Our Services
We offer workshops, research, and strategic consultancy that help people understand, imagine, and shape life-affirming places.
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Our workshops are hands-on, collaborative sessions that help people understand how places work, and imagine what they could become. We create inclusive spaces for learning, reflection, and creativity.
Place Literacy Workshops
We help teams and communities build a shared understanding of place: developing the language, awareness, and confidence to engage more meaningfully with the environments around them.
Place Futuring Workshops
We use creative tools and collaborative exercises to help groups imagine better futures. These workshops uncover shared hopes, concerns, and ideas for what a place could become.
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Our research helps organisations understand how places are changing, and how to respond. It is rooted in real-world conditions and designed to support action. Whether commissioned or developed through our Labs, research underpins everything we do.
Futures and Systems Research
We explore the trends, risks, and patterns shaping the future of place: from big-picture shifts like climate and demographics, to local insights gathered through workshops and conversations.
Narrative and Frameworks
We turn complex ideas into clear tools, stories, and models that can support planning, policy, and design, without losing the lived experiences that matter most.
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We support clients to turn shared vision into clear plans. This is where our design thinking comes in: visual, practical, and grounded in local context. We help align people, values, and goals before projects begin.
Co-Briefing and Strategy
We bring together developers, councils, and communities to shape strong, shared briefs: setting the direction for purpose-led projects grounded in local needs and ambitions.
Organisational Capacity Building
We work with organisations to connect the dots across engagement, consultation, design, and social value. From internal training to collaborative planning, we help teams break down silos and lead with purpose.
Our Labs
Our Labs are the research and development engines of IF/.
Each Lab brings together partners and publics around urgent urban questions. They are spaces for testing ideas, developing tools, and generating knowledge that can inform wider practice. The Labs move our work forward while inviting collaboration, experimentation, and shared learning.
Selected Projects
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Place is...
A Place Literacy workshop series in partnership with the Stephen Lawrence Day Foundation to support young people to understand and shape the places they live.
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Place at the Table: Voices Across Generations
An interactive event at Brent Cross Town which brought together diverse intergenerational voices to imagine better urban futures.
