The futures we imagine are the futures we create.
Place Futuring is about shaping the future of our neighbourhoods, towns, and cities, through collective imagination and design.
The future is not fixed. It is shaped by the choices we make, the stories we tell, and the visions we hold. Too often, futures are inherited from others or left to drift, rather than imagined and created together.
At its heart, IF/’s Place Futuring methodology is about civic imagination: our shared ability to envision alternatives for the places we live in. In times of crisis, imagining better futures can be difficult, yet it is then that imagination matters most. Without it, we risk short-term fixes or nostalgic visions that leave us unprepared for the challenges ahead.
By nurturing civic imagination, Place Futuring expands what feels possible. It unlocks hope and agency to design futures that are more equitable, abundant, and connected.
Place Futuring is a structured way of thinking about the future of places. It blends creativity, design, and futures methods to move beyond prediction and into possibility.
This can be understood through the Futures Cone — a way of mapping what lies ahead:
Possible futures — everything that might be
Plausible futures — what could realistically unfold
Probable futures — what is likely to happen
Preferable futures — what we want to happen
By working with these horizons, Place Futuring gives communities, leaders, and designers a shared language for long-term thinking, and the vision to guide better choices today.
From imagination to action, Place Futuring follows a six-stage process delivered through research, workshops, and strategies:
1 / Tuning In
We begin by attuning to place to ground futures thinking in real conditions: history, context, lived experiences, and early signals of change.
2 / Expanding Horizons
Using tools like backcasting, forecasting, trend analysis, and the Futures Cone, we expand the horizon of what is possible.
3 / Sparking Imagination
Through workshops and co-creation sessions, we work with communities, leaders, and designers to imagine bold, preferable futures.
4 / Setting the Course
Visions are turned into direction: aligning strategies, clarifying priorities, and building the partnerships needed to create impact.
5 / Making it Real
Ideas are tested through prototypes and pilot projects: practical interventions that bring elements of the future into the present.
6 / Living the Future
Potential futures are embedded in practice: measured, reflected upon, and adapted, ensuring they evolve and grow over time.
Place Futuring is not about predicting what comes next, but about expanding our collective imagination of the possible. By surfacing shared aspirations and reconciling conflicting visions, it creates space for common ground and the creation of futures that are abundant, sustainable, and deeply connected.