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We wish for you to join the open-source platform Future City Lab and collectively THINK THE UNTHINKABLE. Participate, share knowledge, establish synergies and create a sustainable roadmap to give rise to the future city 2.0 by 2050.

Climate Change, rapidly growing megacities and the need for new energy sources are challenges we can leverage to develop cities that are vibrant, energy-efficient and sustainable. In the spirit of TED, ftr.ct.lb is a platform for open discussion; using the power of collective ideas to shape a future vision of the city 2.0.

Future City Lab is an open-source initiative created by a worldwide collaboration of leading engineers, universities and scientists using crowd sourcing in order to launch a sustainable future by 2050.

Cities all over the world are facing the biggest challenge in history to immediately and drastically reduce CO2 emissions to combat climate change. Cities need to respond to increasing temperatures, frequency of storms and limited resources. The trend of people moving from rural to urban areas makes cities the focal point in the search for solutions.

City 2.0 adapts to the climate, is built sustainably realizing a CO2 neutral building stock, and is liveable for 2 billion new inhabitants. Increased density is addressed through the optimized use of façades as vertical parks or for energy generation.

This requires a massive change within a short time. To meet these challenges leading engineers, universities and scientists worldwide collaborate to initiate the Future City Lab. By sharing their knowledge and leading discussions about possible solutions, a comprehensive roadmap takes shape. This roadmap will function as a springboard for planners to find solutions and establish the planning directives needed today.

Future City Lab is aiming to revolutionise the design of our future living and city environment. Visions, research results and specialized knowledge are made public for students and experts. By using a web-based platform everyone in the world can participate to investigate, design and illustrate visions in selected cities solving their specific problems. The visions are created for a real site in a city; first the current conditions are shown and then transformed to a sustainable concept of the site. Users may comment and contribute to the visions as a starting point for professional discourse within a mosaic of ideas accessible to everyone.

Urban planning is the design of the unfinished; it is a process that is driven by change. Focusing on collective participation all authors and web users may participate in the development of City 2.0. Take part in shaping the future – join ftr.ct.lb

Universities already in the ftr.ct.lb network: Alghero Italy, ESA Paris, ETH Zürich, UPenn, TU Delft, Syracuse NY, Ryerson Toronto, IUAV Venezia, ANCB Berlin.

Interview with Christos Passas.

Christos Passas Architect , London, Great Britain

Christos is an Associate Director at Zaha Hadid Architects. He has worked in the firm as a Senior Designer since February 1998. He was the Project Director and Lead Designer for numerous projects and winning competitions, including most notably the Sterling Prize nominee, the Phaeno Science Centre Wolfsburg, completed in November 2005. The Phaeno was nominated by the Guardian Newspaper as one of the 50 best buildings of the 20th century, together with the Sidney Opera House, the Fallingwater the TWA terminal and others.