Europe

Digital Engagement & Participation, Data-driven decision making

• Founded in 2017
• Revenue growth from 2020 to 2021: 60%
• HQ in London
• 1-10 employees
• Key clients/partners: Scottish Government; UK Government; South Cambridgeshire and Cambridge City Councils;Glasgow City Council; Devon County Council

Last year, the UK government released a white paper outlining its vision for 21st century urban planning. The proposal, which would be the first major update to planning legislation since the 1947 Town and Country Planning Act, aims to bring economic prosperity by developing Britain's built environment. Analysts note that the plan faces significant criticism from architects, local authorities, and anti-homeless advocates. However, the conversation around this white paper makes it clear that rethinking how we design our communities will play a key role in global post-pandemic recovery efforts.

Annette Jezierska, CEO and Founder of London-based startup The Future Fox, underscores that “people feel locked out of the planning system.” Furthermore, Jezierska notes that “public opposition to housing and infrastructure costs the UK £42 billion in GDP.”

With these issues in mind, The Future Fox has developed PlaceBuilder, a digital citizen engagement and analytics platform that empowers municipal governments and their residents to collaborate and make data-driven urban planning decisions. Using PlaceBuilder, public sector organisations – with the support of The Future Fox’s team of engagement experts – can quickly deploy inquiries to gauge community sentiment on local needs and planning initiatives.

PlaceBuilder guides The Future Fox’s clients to focus on finding consensus amongst community members and identify what and where schemes could be built with support. According to The Future Fox, this outcomes-based approach enables local governments to find solutions that build the lasting trust that makes communities thrive.

• Launch new product features to help with trade-offs in spatial decisions, and incorporate wider data sources like land values and social media, for more meaningful collaboration
• Work on more net zero and carbon-reducing schemes
• Grow as a leader in the UK PropTech scene, onboarding new clients in adopting data-driven practises in engagement, and releasing a paper based on their work with HM Government on the UK’s first digital engagement on strategic regional planning, that produced a unique spatial community preference map to inform responsive policy-making

Local governments that would like to collaborate with citizens to make better urban planning and policy decisions for their communities.