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Futures Lab Initiative

Futures Lab goal is to explore how the future of Egyptian real estate may be adapted to climate change-related challenges, water scarcity, extreme changes in weather patterns, land degradation and large-scale migration, among others.
  1. AUC Climate Change Initiative
  2. Futures Lab Initiative

More on the Initiative

Futures Lab goal is to explore how the future of Egyptian real estate may be adapted to climate change-related challenges, water scarcity, extreme changes in weather patterns, land degradation and large-scale migration, among others. It is a joint effort between AUC Innovation Hub and New Silk Roads, to encourage collaboration between business leaders, architects, researchers and policymakers.

Five Recommendations for Climate-Resilient Real Estate in Egypt

For the full report, click here.

What is Futures Thinking?

Futures Thinking refers to established methods and tools for imagining multiple, possible futures and understanding the assumptions behind these imagined futures. Grounded in exploring over prediction, and possibility over certainty, futures thinking asks what could happen, not what will happen. By articulating a range of possible futures, futures thinking helps us to identify the transformational processes behind future outcomes and identify our roles in the present in bringing about the desired futures which we imagine.

What is the Futures Lab Designed for?

Using a futures thinking lens, this lab asks what COULD happen, not what WILL happen. The lab is designed for us to:

  1. Interrogate our assumptions about the future
  2. Imagine multiple possible futures by asking what could happen, not what will happen
  3. Examine system-level forces to imagine beyond problem-solution, i.e., “band-aid” approaches
  4. Develop future visions which transcend stale scenarios and future tropes, such as utopia, dystopia, and techno-optimism
ayman ismail

With Egypt's population doubling every 30 years, the real estate sector is becoming critical in its impact on climate change. In Futures Lab, we get into a deep conversation with industry leaders to think of innovative, pragmatic, industry-driven solutions, building on the depth of knowledge of AUC.

Ayman Ismail
Director of AUC Innovation Hub

The future lab can never be more-timely. The pace of change in the climate change space is unprecedented, and immediate actions are mostly needed. Brining voices from all relevant stakeholders to greening real estate in Egypt into one place through the Future Lab, is a much-needed approach to address climate change pressures, and beyond traditional solutions.

Dalia Abd-Allah
Senior Director AUC Innovation Hub

Featured Stories

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Innovation Hub and New Silk Roads Roundtables

May 2022, the Innovation Hub and New Silk Roads convened two roundtables to begin shaping the Futures Lab theme and exploring different conceptions of an Egypt green transition beyond just carbon neutral. The roundtables have been carried out with a group of thought leaders from diverse backgrounds to begin shaping the Futures Lab themes.