Our Labs
Exploring the intersections of today’s biggest urban challenges.
Cities today face overlapping challenges: climate change, housing affordability, demographics and cohesion, public health and wellbeing, economic transformation, and technology and infrastructure. These forces are not isolated; they intersect and compound, creating urgent questions that shape how we live together.
Our Labs are how IF/ responds. They bring people and partners together to test ideas, create tools, and share knowledge.
We have two types of Labs. Core Labs (Place Futuring and Place Literacy) develop the methods that run through all of our work. Thematic Labs focus on the intersections of the six major urban challenges, where problems are most pressing and opportunities for change are greatest.
Together they form a portfolio that crosses silos, adapts over time, responds to new needs, and creates space for imagination and action.
Core Labs
Thematic Labs
[Core Lab]
Place Futuring Lab
How can we collectively imagine and shape the long-term futures of places?
The Place Futuring Lab develops the tools and techniques of IF/’s Place Futuring approach, part of our mission to Inspire. It creates space for communities, practitioners, and policymakers to imagine hopeful futures: 30, 50, even 100 years ahead. By combining civic imagination with design practice, it fosters creativity, resilience, and collective agency.
[Core Lab]
Place Literacy Lab
How do we enhance understanding, awareness, and agency in shaping places?
The Place Literacy Lab develops the tools and techniques of IF/’s Place Literacy approach, part of our mission to Empower. It helps people critically engage with, interpret, and imagine their surroundings: building awareness and confidence to shape the future of their places through practical frameworks such as the Place Literacy Toolkit.
[Thematic Lab — In Development]
Intergenerational Futures Lab
How can places nurture meaningful connections across generations and imagine futures that benefit all ages?
Communities thrive when generations connect, yet cities are often shaped around separate age groups. This lab explores intergenerational design, housing, and civic spaces that bring people together across ages: fostering solidarity, sharing knowledge, and co-creating inclusive, joyful, and sustainable futures that work for both present and future generations.
[Thematic Lab — In Development]
Resilient Neighbourhoods Lab
How can neighbourhoods build resilience in the face of increasing climate shocks?
Rising sea levels, heatwaves, and extreme events demand resilience, not only for climate adaptation but also stronger social ties, mutual care, and economic fairness. This lab explores neighbourhood-scale strategies: climate-adaptive design, ecological restoration, and social infrastructure that enables communities to thrive amidst uncertainty, supporting both environmental and social resilience.
[Thematic Lab — In Development]
Healthy Homes Lab
How can housing better support physical and mental wellbeing?
Homes sit at the intersection of today’s biggest pressures: rising costs, climate change, and health inequalities. Poor-quality housing drives ill health, while energy use and retrofitting shape both affordability and emissions. This Lab explores new models, designs, and policies that create homes which are affordable, sustainable, and good for wellbeing.
[Thematic Lab — In Development]
Temporary Cities Lab
How can temporary spaces be catalysts for long-term urban change?
Vacant land and underused buildings offer opportunities for experimentation, activation, and placemaking. This lab explores how meanwhile uses can deliver cultural, social, and economic value in the short term while seeding lasting transformation and resilience in the evolving fabric of cities.
[Thematic Lab — In Development]
Future Work Lab
What does the future of work mean for places, learning, and community life?
The shift toward hybrid work and evolving education demands new spatial models. This lab investigates flexible, adaptive, and hybrid environments that support both work and learning—rethinking offices, schools, and civic places to prioritise collaboration, wellbeing, and inclusion while responding to long-term cultural, economic, and technological change.
[Thematic Lab — In Development]
Urban Mobility Lab
How can cities rethink mobility for equity, resilience, and digital transformation?
Transport and mobility are being reshaped by electrification, automation, and digital platforms. At the same time, cities must cut emissions and improve access for all. This Lab explores how new technologies and infrastructures can support healthier, fairer, and more connected urban life while reducing environmental impact.