ND Lab · Future Lab
Thinking about the future of cities, together
ND Lab is where we share the methods we test in our projects, the trends we follow and the questions we are still working on. It is an open notebook where our planning team, academic advisors and partner institutions think at the same table.
Future trends
Six trends shaping the planning agenda, and how our projects respond to them.
Climate adaptation and resilient cities
Heatwaves, floods and drought; testing plan decisions against climate data, green infrastructure and basin protection.
Istanbul plan →Planning with earthquake and disaster risk
Renewing at-risk building stock, assembly and evacuation areas, and managing density by ground conditions.
Urban renewal work →Digital twins, GIS and smart cities
Building the plan as a living database; monitoring and updating it with sensor, satellite and photogrammetry data.
Central Asia Smart City →Scenario-based planning
Comparing possible futures instead of predicting one; flexible, reversible decisions under uncertainty.
Kosovo 2050 →City-regions and logistics corridors
Sharing big cities' load with their region; production and trade hubs along the Middle Corridor and border gates.
Termez →The water–food–energy balance
Protecting farmland and water basins, making renewables an input to the plan, and planning rural and urban areas together.
Jizzakh Vision 2050 →R&D notes
Lessons on method drawn from our projects. Each note links to the project page.
From three scenarios to one final scenario
Instead of picking the top-scoring scenario, we combined Baseline Growth's sustainability principles, Current Trends' population outlook and Polycentric Growth's economic model.
Marmara · City-regionSharing a metropolis's load with its region
We read Istanbul's future at the scale of Marmara, not the provincial boundary, mapping which share of population, industry, food, energy, port, airport and logistics load each province could take.
Kosovo 2050 · MethodLooking to 2050 through more than 400 sources
We built a national strategy with 50 contributors, seven sub-regions and four scenarios, as a social responsibility project with TDMMB.
Smart City · PhasingPhasing 6,400 hectares: 530 hectares first
Over about four years of work, we set a large new city in motion with a first phase that works on its own: industry, commerce, logistics and housing together.
Brainstorm corner
Question of the season
In a city living with earthquake risk, how should we manage density: through renewal, through expansion, or a balance of both?
Send us your views, examples and questions. With the author's permission, we will share selected contributions on this page.
Send your view →Join the Lab
Universities
We welcome proposals for joint research, thesis topics and studio work.
Students and young planners
Share your project ideas and research; contact us about internships and volunteering.
Public bodies and local governments
Let's work together on a question facing your city: pilots, data sharing and participatory processes.