Two main activities are taking place in this workshop: Future Telling research and the development of desired future scenarios.

The first part of the vision development activity is to identify Drivers for Change that influence the future of smart and sustainable cities in general. The Future Telling research method is an approach to create context-related possible future scenarios in a creative, imaginative way. Future Telling research consist of a structured method to map expertise and ideas of thought leaders from the Smart Cities domain. Through interviews and analysis leading to the Drivers for Change for liveable and smart cities in 2050.

These Scenario Workshops consist of a 3-day programme, and include sessions with policy-makers and stakeholders to develop a rich, contextual scenario for the city. Local stakeholders (companies, citizens, public and private organisations and knowledge institutes) are invited to take part in the workshops through the networks in the cities. The results of the Scenario Workshops are reported in the same format for each of the city, facilitating cross-learning between the cities. Two sessions are held for each focus area. In the morning session the outline for the vision and the desired future scenario is developed. The main stakeholders work with the set ambition for the focus area and the selected Drivers for Change to understand their impact on the city in 2050. Together, the participants define the main elements of the vision. Then, in the afternoon session a broad spectrum of stakeholders are invited to enrich the desired future scenario with specific additions. Based on the outlined vision they carry out a further in-depth exploration of the main elements of the vision in-depth. In all the sessions, the participants will interactively build a visualisation of the desired future scenario.