Josef Hargrave, an associate with Arup’s global Foresight + Research + Innovation team, has predicted that the cities of the future will “identify, understand, manage and solve social, environmental and economic shifts and shocks”.

Hargrave outlined his vision at Conscious Cities, a conference organised today (1 March) in London to explore the relationship between neuroscience and architecture.

He imagined a future where sensors embedded throughout cities will be able to do everything from sending us updates warning about traffic jams and available parking spots, to automatically changing our living environments depending on our mood and protecting us from extreme weather.

“It will be a technological revolution that can shape our environment and influence the personality of cities,” he said. "Giving city consciousness allows more people to make conscious decisions themselves during their day to day life."

How can we use consciousness and data to address problems? w/ @josefhargrave @ArupUKMEA #consciouscities pic.twitter.com/zjVbCo33wS

— MuseumofArchitecture (@MoA_News) March 1, 2016

Other topics under discussion during the conference – which featured speakers from the worlds of science, architecture and real estate – explored how our built environments affect behaviour and cognition, how the latest findings in neuroscience can inform the design of spaces and cities, and the ethical questions that exist in making our data so readily available.

The one-day event was organised by London’s Museum of Architecture and THECUBE – a collective of scientists, engineers, designers, technologists, artists, futurists and anthropologists.

By bringing together neuroscientists, architects, engineers, planners and developers, the conference aimed to show how professionals can use research in neuroscience to design better spaces and cities for the future.