"a powerful tribute to what imagination can do"
Jo Swinson, Partners for a New Economy
Participants discussing their ideas and viewing them in AR
Future Places Toolkit transforms community engagement through in-situ facilitated experiences that bring ideas to life. By combining augmented reality, spatial audio and expert facilitation, we move beyond static plans and data heavy models to create shared, human-centred experiences that people can see, hear and respond to in real time.
Engage, visualise, decide together
We help planners, designers and communities shape regeneration and development projects in the real-world context where they will happen. People understand plans and ideas better when they can experience them in context. Our collaborative, immersive approach ensures more voices are heard, helping communities think through futures and possible ideas.
Workshops participants in Birmingham discussing plans in-situ
Future Soundings workshop and performance at Partners for a New Economy Conference in Brussels
Choose what suits you best
We offer a number of different approaches that can be designed around the needs of your project, stakeholders and community, and at different stages of your engagement process. Choose one of our individual engagement activities for a one off event or multi-day sessions, or combine them into a fully tailored engagement programme.
Individual Engagement Activities
Future Places AR
Participatory consultation workshop that uses augmented reality and live drawing to bring ideas to life in-situ.
Future Soundings
A workshop and performance that immerses participants in the sounds of futures they want for their place.
Your tailored programme
Our fully tailored engagement programme is designed to meet the needs of your project.
Combining the individual activities above, alongside an optional additional backcasting workshop, we can provide a full programme of engagement that can be run iteratively at different points in the planning process.
The programme involves three stages designed to support you through scoping, planning and community engagement, with tangible deliverables to show for it.
We offer a comprehensive visual report so you can take projects forward with confidence in the community consultation process.
1. Scoping and planning
We liaise with architects, civil engineers, or local council teams to determine the scope of your planning project, any limitations or guiding principles you’d like us to implement in the session.
2. Workshops within the community
We host dynamic workshops with community participants, balancing interactive, immersive sessions with guided discussion.
Using tools such as Future Places AR and Future Soundings, these sessions are designed to encourage open participation, build trust between stakeholders and communities, and create a shared understanding of both opportunities and concerns.
3. Synthesis
Of course, our work doesn’t simply end when the sessions stop. We compile what we’ve learned into a bespoke report and materials that will help support and guide the execution of your project. Materials include a structured evidence report and quantitative engagement data.
Book your bespoke package
Every project and community is different, which is why we tailor each Future Places Toolkit programme to your specific goals, context and stakeholders. By building community consensus around live proposals, we help turn consultation into a more meaningful and productive process for all involved.