Dubai, UAE: AtkinsRéalis, the global design and engineering consultancy, and Futurecity, the leading cultural placemaking agency, have extended their work together on major projects in the Middle East into a strategic partnership to embed culture and placemaking as a core driver of urban development.

This groundbreaking partnership will be formally launched at MIPIM Cannes 2026 and will prioritise major projects across the Middle East. The collaboration responds to a fast-growing regional shift as governments and now developers place cultural identity, liveability and creativity at the heart of their long-term urban agendas.

Together, both companies will support governments, master developers, and city leaders in the built environment by embedding cultural value, social impact, and place identity from the earliest stages of planning and design.

A key pillar of the partnership is the Futurecity Lab, an innovative platform dedicated to exploring ideas in cultural foresight, creative economic insight, and people-centered design. The first pilot projects have already begun, and the partnership will present the Lab’s initial outputs and outline the next phase of the partnership.

Matthew Tribe, Senior Vice President, Buildings and Places, AtkinsRéalis, said: “Across the Middle East, cities are undergoing profound transformation, with culture emerging as a defining catalyst of change. This partnership embodies our shared conviction that cultural intelligence is essential to shaping the next generation of urban environments.”

He added: “By uniting AtkinsRéalis’ design and engineering excellence with Futurecity’s cultural strategy, we give governments and developers the strategic foundation to create places with clear identity, enduring value, and purpose.”

Mark Davy, CEO and Founder of Futurecity, said: “I have seen at first-hand how arts and culture have become essential placemaking tools for the development and regeneration of cities across the world. This unique partnership with AtkinsRéalis offers an unprecedented opportunity to ensure cultural thinking is integrated from the very beginning of the masterplanning process as a critical element of urban infrastructure”

He added: “We will bring our experience of working on 400 placemaking and cultural projects, across a wide range of property typologies to provide expertise and insight in cultural masterplanning, place-narrative development, public-art strategies, cultural-brokering, cultural-trends research, and destination-strategies for emerging destinations.”

AtkinsRéalis and Futurecity will jointly engage with leading global real estate and built environment platforms including Cityscape, MIPIM, MIPIM Middle East, the Future Investment Initiative (FII), and other global forums. The partnership positions both organisations as key voices in culturally led, human-centric urban development.

About AtkinsRéalis

Created by the integration of long-standing organisations dating back to 1911, AtkinsRéalis is a world-class engineering services company dedicated to engineering better future for our planet and its people. We create sustainable solutions that connect people, data and technology to transform the world’s infrastructure and energy systems. We deploy global capabilities locally to our clients and deliver unique end-to-end services across the whole life cycle of an asset, including consulting, advisory & environmental services, intelligent networks & cybersecurity, design & engineering, procurement, project & construction management, operations & maintenance, decommissioning and capital.

Learn more at www.atkinsrealis.com or follow us on LinkedIn.

About Futurecity

Founded in 2007, Futurecity is a global cultural placemaking agency that works with governments, developers and design teams to embed culture as a core driver of urban development. With over 400 major projects delivered across the UK, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Australia and North America, Futurecity is recognised as a leader in integrating arts and culture into cities from the earliest stages of planning. Projects include masterplans and strategies for Battersea Power Station, Wembley Park, Canary Wharf, and the City of London Financial District. Active in the Middle East since 2016, Futurecity has worked on strategies for Red Sea Global, Diriyah City of Earth, King Abdullah Financial District and the Riyadh Art-Noor Festival. Futurecity shapes distinctive, people-centred places with long-term social, cultural and economic value.
Lear more at www.futurecity.co.uk and follow us on LinkedIn

For media inquiries, please contact:

Razan Katbe
External Comms Manager, AtkinsRéalis Middle East
Razan.katbe@atkinsrealis.com