Planning and Building for the Long-term When the Future Is Uncertain
Instructor: Professor Peter Madden, Professor of Practice in Future Cities, Cardiff University
Speaker Bio
Peter is Professor of Practice in Future Cities, helping to engage with businesses and city administrations to stimulate collaborative work and maximise research impact. His work explores how engagement with the future can help us create better places for people and planet. As well as his role with Cardiff University, he is Founder Director of Vivid Futures providing strategic foresight and future-proofing for the built environment. Previously, he led Future Cities Catapult, Forum for the Future, and Green Alliance, as well as holding senior positions in government (DETR/Defra and Environment Agency). He has held Board roles with Building with Nature (Chair) The Crown Estate, Bristol Energy, Trane Technologies, Groundwork UK, and the South West RDA. He currently sits on the Advisory Board of Igloo Regeneration. He was awarded an OBE in 2015 for services to environmental protection and sustainable development.
Summary of the Workshop
This interactive workshop will explore how planners, designers, and decision-makers can prepare for long-term change in the face of uncertainty and instability. Focusing on the built environment, the session will examine how uncertainty related to climate, technology, demographics, and socio-economic change affects decisions about homes, neighbourhoods, and infrastructure.
Participants will be introduced to practical and conceptual approaches for designing resilient and adaptable systems, including methods for stress-testing plans against uncertain futures and identifying strategies that remain effective across a range of possible scenarios. The workshop will highlight the importance of flexibility, robustness, and forward-looking thinking in long-term planning.
Through real-world case studies, discussion, and applied exercises, participants will develop skills to critically evaluate planning decisions and design approaches that are better able to perform under uncertain and changing future conditions.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this session, participants will:
Understand how instability and uncertainty shape long-term decisions in the built environment.
Examine practical and theoretical approaches for planning and designing resilient homes, neighbourhoods, and infrastructure.
Evaluate strategies for making decisions today that remain robust under future conditions that are difficult to predict.
Apply insights from real-world case studies to develop more adaptive and forward-looking planning practices.
Structure of the session
In this workshop
15 minutes: Introduction to uncertainty and instability in the built environment, and their implications for long-term planning and design
45 minutes: Approaches for planning and designing resilient and adaptable homes, neighbourhoods, and infrastructure
30 minutes: Break
60 minutes: Case studies and interactive exercises on developing robust and future-ready planning strategies