We believe
Great cities evolve from complexity and diversity.
Future Cities was founded in 2000 on the belief that traditional developer-led approaches were not resulting in better cities. We were motivated to explore more interactive and engaging models of design-led and process-driven project solutions.
We brought with us experience in the design and development of destination attractors – signature sports, retail and entertainment projects that were programmed to bring synergy from disparate uses and to activate public places.
Future Cities is motivated by the belief that the ordinary can be made extraordinary through creative collaboration, by finding value in even the smallest underutilized urban assets, exploring a broader synergy of uses, and creating richer more sustainable places as a result.
We imagine
Every project begins with a single idea. Imagining possibilities is the first step.
We begin with a concentrated, multi disciplined exchange of ideas we call the “Issues and Opportunities Workshop.” It is a vetting methodology by which ideas can be quickly explored, tested, discarded or enhanced, and where the best ideas endure and find a path towards implementation.
While brief, the Workshop yields a broad range of options. Rather than weeks or months of back-and-forth meetings, a project’s potential is exposed early and clearly defined “next steps” present themselves. These next steps allow a project to grow by adding compounding layers of complexity.
The Issues and Opportunities Workshop has served as the initial step towards realizing many of our most complex projects, including the US Airways Arena and Jackson Street Redevelopment, Nokia Theater at LA Live, Pauly Pavilion Renovations, Sun Devil Stadium and the ASU Eco District, and the North of Broad Downtown Redevelopment Project in Richmond, VA.
We design
Design is a process that brings substance to ideas. It introduces context, scope, and scale. It seeks out synergies of uses and is underwritten by a constant search for value.
It is the unique programming that happens within buildings and on streets that makes cities places in which we want to be.
As designers, we use visual presentation techniques to test and demonstrate assumptions and opportunities to the broad-based constituency who represent the end-users, tenants, and visitors to a project. Our clients include cities, universities, sports team owners and others seeking to create lasting value and beneficial connections in otherwise traditional building program uses, campus plans and urban centers.
We develop
As developers, we use the design and planning process to create new opportunities. Our focus is on districts where unique venue programming can be enhanced by the creation of ancillary entertainment districts and vibrant mixed-use neighborhoods.
We collaborate with other developers to form partnerships which will create additional real estate value in underutilized urban cores, destination attractors, theaters and sports venues.