The future waits for no one.

While cities and governments frequently strive to plan for the long term, such planning is often hindered by short-term political cycles and uncertainties about the future. Marginalised communities, in particular, are often excluded from decision-making processes. But the future can be different. Innovative, future-oriented, participatory, and evidence-based planning approaches can help us overcome these challenges and envision low-risk cities for future generations.

This is where the Tomorrow’s Cities Decision Support Environment comes in.

Along this course, you will get to know the different components of the Tomorrow’s Cities Decision Support Environment. 

• First, you will learn how to identify and collaborate with different city stakeholders in an inclusive manner to collectively imagine, discuss, and create multiple future visions for their city.
• Then, you will explore how to translate these visions into digital land-use plans and policies through a hybrid approach that integrates community-based ideas with science-guided information.
• After that, you will understand how computational models can help forecast both the physical and social impacts of future natural hazards on the envisioned urban scenarios.
  
• Finally, you will explore risk communication techniques that not only enhance community understanding of risk drivers but also enable conversations about how specific decisions and policy choices can either increase or reduce risk. 

Throughout the course we will invite you to reflect on how these different components can be applied in your local or regional government. The last chapter will build on these reflections to explore impact pathways that you can follow to advance participatory future-oriented risk-sensitive planning in your city.