AFRY launches book about future cities
Today, the engineering and design company AFRY – formerly known as ÅF Pöyry – launches the book “Predicting the Unpredictable – A Nordic Approach to Shaping Future Cities”. The book is a contribution to the discussion on how to plan smart, sustainable and attractive cities for future generations, in times of rapid technological development.
Today, the engineering and design company AFRY – formerly known as ÅF Pöyry – launches the book “Predicting the Unpredictable – A Nordic Approach to Shaping Future Cities”. The book is a contribution to the discussion on how to plan smart, sustainable and attractive cities for future generations, in times of rapid technological development.
Together, Jonas Gustavsson, CEO of AFRY, and Helena Paulsson, Head of Urban Development at AFRY, discuss the concept of the smart city – a buzzword which, despite lacking a uniform interpretation, remains a concept that many city planners and stakeholders take seriously. They also take the discussion further: what makes a city attractive for people to live and reside in?
What kind of stresses do global trends such as digitalisation and urbanisation put on individuals and climate from the perspective of environmental safety and quality of life? The book draws inspiration from the Nordic cities, who are often counted amongst the greenest and most liveable cities in the world.
“We are situated at the forefront of sustainable urban development. This book is a great opportunity to discuss some of the questions we have encountered along the way. It also provides a chance for us to look at these issues from a holistic perspective. Technology plays an important part in this, but is not the whole answer,” says Jonas Gustavsson.
“We want to offer a basis for discussion in order to jointly ask the question: where we are today is not far from a reality where almost all technological solutions will be possible. Going forwards, the question is: what choices must we make when planning our urban communities? We need to use the power of urban development to solve many of the challenges we are facing today,” says Helena Paulsson.
”Predicting the Unpredictable – A Nordic Approach to Shaping Future Cities” does not claim to have all the answers, but offers an educated guess about how we should think when planning cities for future generations, based on Nordic examples. The book also contains interviews with, among others, Norwegian Urban Developer Anne Beate Hovind, Rasmus Malmborg at Nordic Sustainable Cities, Sampo Hietanen from MaaS Global and Niklas Berild Lundblad at Google.
The book is co-authored by Kristian Hultqvist and can be ordered at www.afry.com/en/insights/future-cities
Corporate Communication
ÅF Pöyry AB (publ)
For further information, please contact:
Cathrine Sandegren, EVP and Head of Communications and Brand
+46 70 292 68 26
Andrea Herlitz, Press Manager
+46 70 426 10 97
AFRY is an international engineering, design and advisory company. We support our clients to progress in sustainability and digitalisation. We are 17,000 devoted experts within the fields of infrastructure, industry and energy, operating across the world to create sustainable solutions for future generations.
Making Future.