FoCC launches partnership with Fraunhofer IAO

The Future of Cities Coalition has announced a new partnership with Fraunhofer IAO, one of Europe's leading applied research institutes, to establish the Future of Cities Lab. The Lab will serve as the Coalition's initiative to bring together public authorities, industry, academia and civil society to turn urban challenges into evidence-based, scalable solutions. Prof. Dr.-Ing. Vanessa Borkmann, Research Director for Urban Systems Engineering at Fraunhofer IAO, joins the Coalition as Scientific Lead.

Running from September 2026 to March 2027, the Lab's first phase will focus on four themes shaping the cities of tomorrow:

1. Housing: covering availability, affordability and future living concepts

2. Mobility: focused on sustainable and human-centred transport

3. Local economy: strengthening resilience and urban vitality

4. Urban planning: shaping adaptive and inclusive spatial development.

At the heart of this work is a human-centred approach. Together with citizens and stakeholders, the Lab is co-creating Future-Oriented Personas, so that every hypothesis and solution is tested against what actually works for real people from across diverse life stages, backgrounds, and capabilities.

The work will combine horizon scanning, citizen co-creation and participatory foresight to build a shared evidence base, alongside a pilot-city methodology to test solutions in practice. Further updates to follow as the Lab takes shape.