Evergreen engaged Creative Futures to translate a complex multiyear foresight initiative exploring the futures of infrastructure and real estate planning into a practical toolkit that would support further use and replication by policymakers. Creative Futures broke the process down into multiple steps and identified additional resources to support further learning.

Our Approach:

• Development of a design brief with Evergreen to understand the intended audience of the toolkit, call to action, tone, and overall look and feel of the document.

• Creation of a detailed outline of the toolkit to ensure alignment of the product before taking a deep dive into development.

• Research of existing toolkits and resources that explained the foresight processes used throughout the project, to efficiently use resources and avoid duplication.

• Development of a draft toolkit to test with sample audiences before finalization. Feedback sessions were held with a municipal audience, an academic audience, and a federal audience.

• Finalization of the toolkit in preparation for design and dissemination by Evergreen.

Results:

It is estimated that $11-$22 trillion will be invested in infrastructure and real estate over the next 50 years in Canada. Our Urban Futures presents a promising new approach that can ensure this significant investment enables the cities we want in the future. Translating Our Urban Futures’ process into a model that can be replicated and scaled to additional jurisdictions will help align investment decisions with future goals.