What is the Future Places Centre?

The Future Places Centre (FPC) builds on Lancaster University’s pioneering projects on pervasive computing, the Internet of Things (the IoT) and the natural environment, on ‘futures thinking’ and data science. This creates a portfolio of applied research endeavours that help the University and the communities it serves to better understand the places in which they exist. With insights provided by everyday and state of the art computing, the FPC helps to make future places healthier spaces.

What does this mean for the North West and the Morecambe Bay region?

The concepts developed and tested through the centre have global relevance but are based in and developed with the communities, businesses and civic institutions of the North West and Morecambe Bay especially. Through working locally, the FPC demonstrates not only how places can be altered for the better, but what the experiences of those future places will be for those who live in them. On this basis, the FPC anchors research in the future of place wherever it might be.

Creating a shared vision

Key to the future of a place is shaping places with the people and communities that will use them. To ensure this, the FPC works closely with its partners, building all its research agendas on ’co-creation’ methodologies that make sure that those who benefit from the research are intrinsic to every part of the research.

There are many people and organisations working on visions and strategies for change in the North West and so the FPC is constantly reaching out to others to ensure that the project supports local initiatives whilst catalysing action where gaps and needs are identified.