Dubai Municipality has become the first municipality in the world to achieve Level Four \u201cFuture Foresight Leadership \u2013 Master\u201d accreditation, the highest level of international future foresight certification awarded by the Global Innovation Management Institute (GIMI). The achievement reflects the municipality’s established capabilities in planning, governance and innovation, while strengthening Dubai’s position among cities leading the way in shaping the future.<\/p>\n
The milestone comes less than a year after Dubai Municipality achieved Level Three accreditation in November 2025. It marks the municipality’s progress from systematic foresight to foresight leadership, supported by improvements in its tools and methodologies, the development of staff capabilities and the wider use of foresight across municipal operations.<\/p>\n
The accreditation followed a comprehensive assessment by international experts using GIMI’s S4 Future Foresight Maturity Model. The assessment covers four key areas: Scoping and Designing, Scanning and Screening, Scenarios and Foresight, and Strategy and Innovation. Dubai Municipality earned a perfect score of 10 out of 10 in all four areas, demonstrating the maturity of its foresight practices and its readiness to respond to future changes.<\/p>\n
His Excellency Eng. Marwan Ahmed bin Ghalita, Director General of Dubai Municipality, affirmed that the municipality’s teams continue to pursue new achievements with determination and a constant drive for excellence. He stressed that the future is a daily responsibility and that every decision made today should be guided by an understanding of what lies ahead, serving Dubai’s residents and visitors while reinforcing its position as the world’s best city to live and work.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cWe are proud to be the first municipality in the world to reach Level Four in international future foresight accreditation. This distinction reflects Dubai’s leadership and its approach under the guidance of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, may God watch over him, as a city that always remains at the forefront of cities that do not wait for the future, but envision it, design it and shape it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eng. Nasser Bu Shehab, Executive Director of the Planning and Governance Sector at Dubai Municipality, said: \u201cDubai Municipality’s achievement of the highest level of international future foresight accreditation marks an important milestone in our journey and confirms that innovation and future foresight have become an integral part of how we plan, make decisions and deliver services.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday, we do not simply read the future. We monitor weak signals, explore alternative scenarios and test our strategic options before allocating resources.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cThis achievement strengthens our efforts to expand foresight across all areas of institutional work and increases our readiness for future transformations, in line with Dubai’s approach to designing and shaping the future. It also supports the city’s ambition to become better prepared, more resilient and offer a higher quality of life.\u201d<\/p>\n
The detailed assessment report highlighted Dubai Municipality’s ability to identify drivers of change and examine future developments through a foresight knowledge base containing 556 elements across five areas: social, technological, economic, environmental and political.<\/p>\n
The knowledge base includes 396 weak signals, 114 trends, 36 megatrends and 10 potential unexpected events, along with 33 documented drivers of change. Together, these elements provide the foundation for developing alternative future scenarios.<\/p>\n
The report also highlighted the municipality’s continuous horizon-scanning system, which monitors global trends and emerging signals and assesses their potential impact on municipal services and operations. This approach helps the municipality make proactive decisions based on anticipated changes.<\/p>\n
The assessment further recognized the role of the Future Observatory initiative and the Future Makers Network in developing foresight capabilities. Dubai Municipality has also developed integrated alternative scenarios extending to 2040, supported by Vensim system dynamics modeling software.<\/p>\n
The system allows the municipality to test strategic options and assess their potential effects under different future conditions before implementation, while helping strengthen foresight awareness and practices among its teams.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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