DEFINING THE
SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
OF HUMANITY TODAY

Created by:
– Grand Paris Alliance (France)
– International Making Cities Livable (USA)
– Design Research Lab, University of Trento (Italy)
– Urban Design Studies Unit, University of Strathclyde (UK)
– Sustasis Foundation (USA)

PORTFOLIO OF THE TEAM

reports
strategies
indices
  • 2015
    UNESCO Culture Urban Future Report
  • 2018
    UN E-Government Survey
  • 2019
    Global Startup Ecosystem Rankings
  • 2020
    UN World Cities Report: The Value of Sustainable Urbanization
  • 2020
    City-wide Public Space Strategies. UN Guidebook for City Leaders
  • 2021
    UNAIDS COVID-19 Innovation Report
  • 2021
    Future City ESG Innovation Index
  • 2022
    UN City Prosperity Index
events
  • 2012-2024
    World Urban Forum
    various
  • 2014-2018
    Smart City Barcelona World Congress
    Barcelona
  • 2016
    UN Conference Habitat III
    Quito
  • 2016, 2019
    C40 Mayors Summit
    various
  • 2018, 2024
    World Economic Forum
    Davos
  • 2020, 2022
    Forum of Mayors UNECE
    Geneva
  • 2021
    Smart City Mayors' Summit
    Taipei
  • 2023
    BRICS Innovation Forum
    Moscow
  • 2023, 2024
    World Government Summit
    Dubai

The Vision of the Rêve Institute

Rêve Institute is a research and policy center dedicated to the Future of Cities. The Institute is aiming to bring together international organizations, global cities and tech corporations to support the UN SDG’s, quality of life and quality of place around the world. Our main challenge is to imagine a common sustainable future commensurate with the values of diverse local cultures. We act through analytical reports, indices and awards, international events and networks of opinion leaders.
This dual understanding informs our mission: to integrate historical precedents with cutting- edge technological innovations, in order to shape a new set of effective tools and strategies for the work ahead. Our vision of future cities is therefore much more than an uncritical extension of popular futurist imaginations: it is aspirational, but it is also grounded in evidence, and the hard lessons of history.

Created for

1. International organizations
that need a third-party institution with unique competencies, capable of conducting high-level research, programming quality events and assembling partner programs for the tech sector.
2. Cities, regions, countries and corporations
willing to implement significant public projects with international partners and gain recognition of their effort in prestigious indices and awards.
3. Cities, regions and countries
that need to monitor, update or create urban and cultural strategies involving the international organizations to guarantee their global pertinence.
4. International forums and congresses
aiming to develop quality event programs and attract high-profile opinion leaders.

Advisory Board

Rae Kwon Chung
Nobel laureate with the IPCC (Republic of Korea)
Aisha Bin Bishr
Global Digital & Smart Cities Leader (UAE)
Noeleen Heyzer
Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and the Executive Secretary of the UN ESCAP, 2007-2015 (Singapore)
Bindu Lohani
Former Vice-Presedent of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for Knowledge Management and Sustainable Development (Nepal)
George Ferguson
Past Presedent of the Royal Institute of British Architects, former mayor of Bristol (UK)
Alexander Smbatyan
Chairman
Enterpreneur, Chairman of Emerge - International Tech Conference (Armenia)

College of Fellows

Research team

Prof. Michael Mehaffy
Executive Director, Sustasis Foundation (USA)
Prof. Eduardo Moreno
Ex-Director of Research at UN-Habitat (Mexico)
Dr. Nicolas J.A. Buchoud
Coordinator
President, Grand Paris Alliance for Metropolitan Development (France)
Prof. Renato Troncon
Head, Design Research Lab, University of Trento (Italy)
Prof. Apostolos Kyriazis
Associate Professor of Architecture, Abu Dhabi University (UAE)
Prof. Tigran Haas
Head, Halcyon Athenaeum Laboratory (Sweden)
Prof. Christoph Wulf
Professor of Historical Anthropology, Freie Universität Berlin (Germany)
Prof. Sergio Porta
Head, Urban Design Studies Unit, University of Strathclyde (UK)
Prof. Nathalie Handal
Poet and Professor of Practice in Literature and Creative Writing, NYU Abu Dhabi (UAE)
Dr. Thomas Kösters
CEO of DEEP Innovation (Germany)
Dr. Pietro Elisei
President of the International Society of City and Regional Planners (Italy)
Prof. Kirill Ilnitski
Coordinator
Scientific Coordinator, Rêve Institute (UAE)

PORTFOLIO OF THE TEAM

reports
strategies
indices
  • 2015
    UNESCO Culture Urban Future Report
  • 2018
    UN E-Government Survey
  • 2019
    Global Startup Ecosystem Rankings
  • 2020
    UN World Cities Report: The Value of Sustainable Urbanization
  • 2020
    City-wide Public Space Strategies. UN Guidebook for City Leaders
  • 2021
    UNAIDS COVID-19 Innovation Report
  • 2021
    Future City ESG Innovation Index
  • 2022
    UN City Prosperity Index
events
  • 2012-2024
    World Urban Forum
    various
  • 2014-2018
    Smart City Barcelona World Congress
    Barcelona
  • 2016
    UN Conference Habitat III
    Quito
  • 2016, 2019
    C40 Mayors Summit
    various
  • 2018, 2024
    World Economic Forum
    Davos
  • 2020, 2022
    Forum of Mayors UNECE
    Geneva
  • 2021
    Smart City Mayors' Summit
    Taipei
  • 2023
    BRICS Innovation Forum
    Moscow
  • 2023, 2024
    World Government Summit
    Dubai
  • 2023, 2024
    BRICS Urban Future Forum

A Triadic Process:
Synthesizing Past, Present and Future

In our pursuit of this vision, our framework operates within three intertwined channels:

Revisiting Historical Urban Morphology

We delve into the rich tapestry of historical city formations to glean valuable insights into how societal, economic, and environmental forces shaped former urban constructs. Armed with artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies, we decipher the enduring patterns and practices of these cities, drawing not just inspiration but practical information to improve the resilience and sustainability of future urban planning and development.

Balancing Tradition and Innovation

We navigate the delicate pathway lying between the accumulated repository of tradition and the dynamism of technological innovation. We actively pursue a synthesis of these two, with an emphasis on the continuity of traditional practices, acknowledging that the cities of the future should be adaptable, resilient, and built upon the richness of their past.

Building Hubs of Cultural Excellence

Recognising that major global cultural and innovative leaps often sprang from concentrated clusters of prodigious individuals, like Ancient Athens, Modern Paris or Contemporary New York City, we explore the latest research on the inner workings of these talent pools and learn their secret lessons. By examining their urban dynamics and the circumstantial influences that fostered them, we develop and apply tools to build modern urban spaces with similar hubs, able to offer the right conditions to generate and nurture exceptional cultural achievements.

Creating an impact through dialogue
and partnerships

The Rêve Institute is not just an observer but an active participant, engaging with a larger community of researchers and stakeholders to create a tangible impact:
  • Cutting-edge Research: Our work explores uncharted territories of urban planning, design and societal behavior, challenging existing paradigms when the evidence warrants it. Knowledge Transfer through Reports: Our findings take the form of detailed reports with actionable insights, functioning as guides for urban planners, policymakers, theorists, and practitioners.
  • Influencing Policies: We work to inform policymakers, leveraging our position within influential circles to bring our theoretical underpinnings to bear on real-world urban development.
  • Facilitating Discussions: We actively foster a space for exchange through lectures, symposiums, debates, workshops, and seminars, breeding a dynamic, intellectually curious community that provides leadership for urban advancement.
  • Illustrative Case Studies: We translate theoretical insights into practical lessons through meticulous case studies, outlining the essentials of exemplary urban planning.
  • International Collaborations: We reach across borders to collaborate with governments, academic institutions, non-governmental organizations, and private enterprises, recognising the essential role of diverse perspectives in our work.
  • Mentoring Future Catalysts: As educators, we commit to shaping the minds that will lead the next wave of urban design and planning, ensuring they respect the past, acknowledge the present, and are prepared to meet the future.
  • Futurecasting: Towards Real and Desired Sustainable Cities: Our goal is to help build a new generation of truly sustainable cities, grounded in practical realities but also aspirational vision, informed by the cultural precedents of historical practices, and enhanced by modern technology. In areas such as the Middle East, where tradition and modernity form a complex interplay, we strive to instil resilience in new and retrofitted urban fabrics, enabling cities to fully exploit the unfolding digital revolution while managing growing societal complexities.
Other organisations may devote their energies to imagining future cities dominated by high-rise glass towers and buzzing drones. Our aim is to conceive – and to achieve – vibrant urban ecosystems, where the most enduring and successful patterns of the past are enhanced and enriched by modern advancements.

These new habitats will acknowledge their roots in the most successful and well-adapted historical traditions, and at the same time willingly embrace the transformative power of new technology in creating more harmonious, inclusive and sustainable urban havens.

This is the dream – the Rêve – of the Institute, and its commitment to rigorously implement it, challenging existing futurist fantasies and stereotypes, and illuminating the path to a future that both honours our shared history, and celebrates the promise of technological evolution.

Сontacts

Rêve Institute is the foresight arm of the Grand Paris Alliance (Cercle Grand Paris de l’Investissement Durable), established in 2011 in Paris as Association under law 1901. The Alliance played an active role at the Habitat III Summit in Quito in 2016 with the Global Planners Network/General Assembly of Partners and has been active in the T20/U20 under G20 since 2018.

Address

Cercle Grand Paris - Rêve Institute
9, rue Pierre Villey
75007 PARIS
FRANCE

Contacts

Email:
info@reve.institute

Whatsapp
+39 351 746 75 03 (Global)
+33 6 07 80 78 88 (Europe)