Reading, UK: A Case Study in Urban Futures

Decision-makers in citiesCity and towns around the world are facing a ‘perfect storm’ of climate changeClimate change impacts and the continued socio-economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. In these challenging circumstances, it is even more important to take a long-term perspective of how our towns and cities can become smarter, more sustainable, and resilient to future shocks and impacts. ‘Urban futuresUrban futures’ thinking, which is at the heart of ‘city visioning’, can help urban planners and other decision-makers understand what cities and urban areasUrban areas will be like in the long-term (beyond 20 years), how they will operate, what infrastructure and governance systems will underpin and co-ordinate them and how they are best shaped and influenced by their primary stakeholdersStakeholders (civil society, governments, businesses and investors, academia, and others). This chapter takes the example of a major town, Reading, in the UK, and using a quadruple helix (QH) conceptual framework, examines how stakeholders in the town have come together to produce (i) the Reading 2050 vision; (ii) the Climate Emergency Strategy (2020–2025), focusing on a net zeroNet-zero resilient Reading by 2030; and (iii) an economic post-COVID recovery strategy. Drawing on previous research, and using a case studyCase study-based narrative, the chapter provides an overview of current thinking and research on urban futuresUrban futures and cityCity visioning, including city foresight techniques, before describing the QH framework in detail, and examining the three recent integrated ‘urban futures’ elements in more detail. The chapter concludes by providing a summary of the lessons learned and the implications for other towns and cities.