FUTURE CITIES FORUMTM

Image: Professor Rokia Raslan of UCL's  Institute for Environmental Design and Engineering (Courtesy UCL) Future Cities Forum is releasing the first tranche of names of its all-female judging panel for the Winter Awards in January 2026. Professor Rokia Raslan Rokia Raslan is a Professor of Built Environment Decarbonisation at the UCL Institute for Environmental Design and Engineering (UCL IEDE). Her expertise lies at the intersection of computational analysis, policymaking, a

Image: Zayed National Museum, Saadiyat Cultural District, Abu Dhabi - courtesy Foster + Partners Future Cities Forum is including an 'International museums' category in its Winter 2026 awards. The nominated projects are: Zayed National Museum, Saadiyat Cultural District, Abu Dhabi, PoMo Museum, Trondheim, Norway and Studio Museum, Harlem, New York. Zayed National Museum, Saadiyat, Abu Dhabi Located at the heart of the Saadiyat Cultural District in Abu Dhabi, the new national

Image: Elizabeth Tower, courtesy of Purcell / copyright House of Commons Future Cities Forum's nominated projects in its Winter Awards 2026 heritage category includes the restoration of the Elizabeth Tower, more commonly known as 'Big Ben' at the Palace of Westminster, St Bartholomew's Hospital North Wing and the masterplan of Lambeth Palace. The assessment and voting on the projects will take place in January, by an all-female panel of judges.. Elizabeth Tower, Palace of Wes

Image: Smithfield Market viewed from West Smithfield, courtesy Future Cities Forum Billingsgate and Smithfield Market Traders, the City of London Corporation and the Greater London Authority (GLA) have identified a preferred new site in the Royal Docks in Newham where both markets can locate together, the Corporation of London reports: 'The relocation of the historic wholesale markets to the proposed new site of Albert Island (located just to the east of London City Airport)

Image: Shipwreck Treasure Museum, Charleston, Cornwall closed in 2024 - courtesy Shipwreck Treasure Museum Almost 530 museums have closed since 2000 and the risk of closure is far higher within the first 10 years of a museum’s life, a ground-breaking report has found, according to the Museums Association. It states: 'Published by the Mapping Museums Lab at Birkbeck, University of London in December 2025, the report is based on a large-scale, two-and-a-half year research proje

Image: Milton Keynes from the air, courtesy www.miltonkeynes.co.uk Future Cities Forum held its November 2025 post Budget debate with the Leader of Milton Keynes Council, Cllr Pete Marland, Director and Planning & Development Adviser within Deloitte Real Assets Advisory, Jeremy Castle, as well as Visiting Professor of sustainable architecture at Queens University Belfast and Sheffield University, Gary Clark, who is also Principal and Managing Director of the London studio of

Image: CGI of Marlow Studios - courtesy of Wilkinson Eyre WilkinsonEyre has been talking about the decision to grant planning permission for Marlow Studios, overturning a previous refusal by the local authority last year. The architects practice is responsible for the designs. In 2023, Future Cities Forum invited Robert Laycock, Co-founder of Dido Property Ltd for a panel discussion at the BFI, looking at the issues around providing enough studio space for film production to

Image: Port Loop in Birmingham - a regeneration project creating new homes, courtesy Howells Architects for Urban Splash Mayor Richard Parker’s plans to reignite the West Midlands economy and raise living standards for tens of thousands of local people were backed by more than £2.5bn in the recent budget, according to the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA). It states: 'The Mayor will use the money to drive forward his West Midlands Growth Plan which sets out to create 10

Image: courtesy of BDP Architects and designers from BDP have set out a new vision for the transformation of Plymouth’s Grade II-listed Civic Centre, as new images of the proposals are released and the project enters a period of public consultation. The redevelopment aims to re-establish the landmark, BDP reports, as a central part of the city’s civic and social life, with a design that retains the building’s architectural significance while introducing new homes, community u

Image: courtesy of Foster + Partners Masterplan designs for a mixed-use development in Thessaloniki, Greece, have been revealed, by Foster + Partners. The firm has been appointed by developers, Dimand, to transform the historic FIX brewery, an iconic heritage landmark of industrial Thessaloniki, into a dynamic urban project that features vibrant public space, new homes, hotels, and a range of cultural amenities. Situated on the seafront by the city’s western port-gate, a walk