COMMUNITY
Malmö, Sweden
The Future We Build: Now is the New Tomorrow
COMMUNITY
Malmö, Sweden
The Future We Build: Now is the New Tomorrow
Project Team
Erik Larsen, Design Engineering and Sustainability Strategist
Teres Arvidsson, Concept Developer & Facilitator for Strategic Projects
Gustav Magnusson, Urbanist professor, Futurist, Philosophy, Climate Strategist
Johan Pitura, Architect
External Advisors: Frida Hylander, Climate Psychologist
Lia Ghilardi, Urban Development Strategist
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A research-driven exploration of a post-SDG built environment through interviews and policy gaming with 70 industry experts, identifying five future professional roles that rethink sustainability, circularity, democratic city-making, and the evolving responsibilities of architects.
Overview
The team explored the built environment beyond the SDGs. Not to define the future, but to recognize that we are already shaping it.
“The future we build” is a statement of action. The question that follows is simple: Who are we as professionals once the SDGs are met? Through interviews and policy gaming with 70 building industry experts in southern Sweden, we identified key drivers and skill gaps for a future sustainable building sector. We developed speculative professional roles, not as fixed titles, but as prompts for reflection. They were shared through an exhibition, a card game, workshops and presentations, engaging the building industry, students, and the public. Several students reported that the experience led them to change their educational paths.
Community Engagement
The project used policy gaming to explore an assumed sustainable future. Stakeholders tested decisions in a post-SDG world, guided by probabilities rather than predictions. The scenarios acted as rehearsals, revealing both expected and unexpected outcomes and helped us identify emerging competency gaps.
Partners
A Smart Built Environment project, with funding from Vinnova, The Swedish Energy Agency and Formas. Run by Media Evolution and the Federation of Swedish Innovation Companies.
