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Future Places Centre

A Digital Economy Centre on understanding places through everyday computing.

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What is the Future Places Centre?

The Future Places Centre (FPC) builds on Lancaster University’s pioneering projects on pervasive computing, the Internet of Things (the IoT) and the natural environment, on ‘futures thinking’ and data science. This creates a portfolio of applied research endeavours that help the University and the communities it serves to better understand the places in which they exist. With insights provided by everyday and state of the art computing, the FPC helps to make future places healthier spaces.

What does this mean for the North West and the Morecambe Bay region?

The concepts developed and tested through the centre have global relevance but are based in and developed with the communities, businesses and civic institutions of the North West and Morecambe Bay especially. Through working locally, the FPC demonstrates not only how places can be altered for the better, but what the experiences of those future places will be for those who live in them. On this basis, the FPC anchors research in the future of place wherever it might be.

Creating a shared vision

Key to the future of a place is shaping places with the people and communities that will use them. To ensure this, the FPC works closely with its partners, building all its research agendas on ’co-creation’ methodologies that make sure that those who benefit from the research are intrinsic to every part of the research.

There are many people and organisations working on visions and strategies for change in the North West and so the FPC is constantly reaching out to others to ensure that the project supports local initiatives whilst catalysing action where gaps and needs are identified.

Reimagining Landscapes Conference: The Rights of Nature

The second Reimagining Landscapes conference is called to continue the locating of new narratives that reappraise our relationship with the natural world. At this time of unprecedented ecosystem upheaval and species loss, we also have the knowledge of how to enact repair. Part of this process of repair is the paying of deep attention to what landscapes, wildlife, habitats and communities of all kinds are telling us. Our speakers therefore represent a broad range of interests and specialisms, including writers, artists, activists, ecologists, musicians, performers, farmers and land managers. From species restoration experts to animal rights activists and from farmer-led carbon conversations to nature restoration in cities, together they evidence how as a concept reimagining landscape is now embedded across mainstream dialogues as a way of provoking and maintaining progressive change.

Keynote speaker: Christiane Bosman, Embassy of the North Sea.

Speakers include, Richard Scott and Polly Mosely, Scouse Flowerhouse; John Tweddle, Natural History Museum Urban Nature Project; visual artist Patricia Townshend; Cairngorms Connect and Cumbria Connect landscape restoration projects (Endangered Landscapes Programme) Nic Renison, farmer-led Carbon Calling advisory group; Paperboats.org; author and naturalist Mark Cocker and young people’s voices on nature and the environment.

Reimagining Landscapes logo featuring a man with the head of a bird wearing a hat

Upcoming Events

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Virtual walks and talks

Join us for an explanation of what makes Morecambe Bay such a special place for nature and wildlife.

Writer in Residence - Karen Lloyd

Karen's writing is concerned with the natural environment and the ways humans are entangled with nature. Her work is widely published including the James Cropper Wainwright Prize 2022 longlisted Abundance: Nature in Recovery, (Bloomsbury, 2021) and The Gathering Tide: A Journey Around the Edgelands of Morecambe Bay (Saraband, 2015).

Find out about Karen's work.

Karen's Recent Projects

Latest News and Events

Events

10th Jul

Unsecurities Lab: Cycle 2 - LUMI and the Defence of Landscape

Thursday 10 July 2025, 11:00am to 4:00pm

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Pupils using clip:bits while collecting environmental data in Morecambe Bay

Primary school children learn about data and cyber security from Lancaster computing experts

Pupils from a Morecambe Primary School have learnt about data, cloud computing and cyber security from experts at Lancaster University.
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Lend a hand to research, literally

The team behind H-Unique - a pioneering hand identification research project - urgently need help from students and staff to build a ‘control’ database of images. By taking part, you could help protect some of the most vulnerable people in society.
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#NorthInnovationWomen 2023 list revealed

We are shining the spotlight on hundreds of innovative women today as we publish the annual #NorthInnovationWomen list.

The Northern Health Science Alliance (NHSA) and N8 Research Partnership have published a list of more than 200 women who are pushing the boundaries of innovation in their chosen fields to mark International Women’s Day.
L-R: Oyster gardens supported a diverse range of invertebrates, like this sea urchin; An oyster garden cage containing a mix of Sydney Rock Oysters, Leaf Oysters, and Hairy Mussels; Marble Fortescue, one of the most common fish found in association with the oyster gardens.

Citizen scientists tend oyster gardens

A Lancaster University scientist has helped assess Australia’s first ‘oyster gardening’ project.
Dr Nick Chappell

Creating a UK network to help tackle flood and drought risk

A Lancaster University hydrologist has been appointed Chief Science Advisor to a £38 million project to provide real time data about the challenges posed by increasingly extreme weather.

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