The Results of the Foresight and Innovation Project
A shared vision for the future of Berlin’s visitor economy
Context: Why this process?
Berlin, February 2026 Berlin’s visitor economy is facing profound changes. The climate crisis, technological developments, social change and new expectations of cities and travel are increasing complexity and uncertainty. In times like these, it is not enough to react to individual trends or develop short-term solutions.
With this foresight and innovation project, visitBerlin, together with Berlin’s tourism and events sector, has deliberately taken a step forward: away from short-term forecasts towards a systematic examination of possible and desirable futures, and the question of how Berlin can create the conditions today to remain capable of acting tomorrow.
Strategic foresight serves not to predict, but to provide direction. It opens up new possibilities, helps to challenge assumptions, and creates a common basis for long-term decisions in a changing city.
What has been achieved? The results at a glance
The following results were produced as part of a scientifically supported, participatory process:
- four realistic yet optimistic future scenarios for Berlin’s visitor economy
- an overarching vision serving as a shared framework
- five areas of innovation that represent key drivers for future development
- initial ideas for potential strategic approaches and partnerships
These findings do not replace existing strategies nor do they constitute a list of measures. Rather, they provide a common framework for thinking and working that stakeholders in Berlin’s visitor economy can use to ensure their own decisions, projects and priorities are future-proof.
The vision: The Sentient City – a perceptive, learning city
At the heart of the project’s findings lies the concept of the Sentient City – the perceptive, learning and people-centred city. It describes a vision of the future in which technology is not used for its own sake, but to consciously enhance the human experience. Digital, social and spatial infrastructures work together as a learning system that responds to the needs of residents and visitors. This creates an interplay between people, technology and tourism that is not only efficient but also places atmosphere, interaction and diversity at the centre.
A Sentient City focuses on situations rather than systems – on contexts, needs and interactions between people, urban spaces and services. It does not primarily ask how cities can be managed, but how they can remain vibrant – as places of encounter, orientation and participation.
Technology plays a supporting role in this. It helps to make sense of situations, develop services in a context-sensitive manner, and tailor experiences for both visitors and Berliners to promote people’s well-being. The aim is to enhance quality of life and foster respectful coexistence in a diverse, dynamic city.
In concrete terms, the Sentient City can be thought of as an interplay of many small, situation-specific adjustments. Urban spaces, services and information respond sensitively to different uses, times of day or needs. Orientation arises where it is needed. Encounters become possible where they are desired. Different forms of spending time, usage and interaction can thus be consciously considered together. For those involved in Berlin’s visitor economy, the Sentient City means viewing their actions more from the perspective of situations, contexts and interactions. It invites them to reflect more consciously on offerings, services and experiences in the interplay of place, time, usage and city life.
The Sentient City’s mission statement is deliberately formulated in open terms. It is not a finished concept, but a shared framework for orientation that enables further development and allows for different approaches.
Four future scenarios: spaces for thought and reflection
Four exploratory scenarios have been developed to illustrate the range of possibilities for future developments. They describe different, internally consistent visions of the future of Berlin’s visitor economy, shaped by various factors, including the use of technology, social change, governance and urban coexistence.
The scenarios are not forecasts. They serve as spaces for thought and reflection, enabling us to question our own assumptions, identify opportunities and risks at an early stage, and assess decisions for their suitability for the future.
Five areas of innovation: Where collaborative thinking begins
Five areas of innovation were identified from the scenarios. They represent key areas for action and development in the further growth of Berlin’s visitor economy and have one thing in common: a focus on people, collaboration and the ability to learn.
- Networked value creation through intelligent collaboration
- Adaptive systems with cross-sector skills development
- Empathic experience design bridging digital and analogue worlds
- Responsive spaces for interpersonal encounters
- Participatory governance with ethical transparency standards
The innovation areas serve as a framework for guidance and reflection. They highlight where, from today’s perspective, the key levers for change lie, whilst also providing a basis on which initial points of departure and potential key projects can be further developed collaboratively.
A shared path: The way forward
The findings of the foresight and innovation project are intended as an invitation to businesses, associations, networks, public authorities and other stakeholders in Berlin’s visitor economy to take up the perspectives developed and build on them.
visitBerlin will publicise the findings, share knowledge and provide spaces for exchange – for example via the Visitor Insight platform, the TourismHub and other dialogue formats. The concrete further development of the innovation fields is deliberately left to the wider industry. The future is not created centrally, but collectively.
The Sentient City is therefore not an end point, but a starting point for discussions, for new collaborations and for a conscious, people-centred shaping of the future of Berlin’s visitor economy.
Background to the project
The foresight and innovation process was initiated by visitBerlin and designed, organised and implemented by the agencies 4strat (Dr Birthe Menke) and dwif (Elena Schmidt, Maike Berndt). The central working structure of the project was the ‘Think Tank Zukunft’, in which representatives from Berlin’s tourism and events sector worked together on an ongoing basis to reflect on relevant developments, develop future scenarios and identify areas for innovation. In addition to visitBerlin, members of the Think Tank include representatives from the Berlin Event Network, DEHOGA Berlin, INTOURA, visitBerlin Partnerhotels e.V., the Clubcommission Berlin and the Senate Department for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises, which funded the project.
In addition, numerous other industry stakeholders actively contributed to the process through three stakeholder workshops, developing key content that was directly incorporated into the subsequent stages of the project. During the final project phases, the process was further supported by Prof. Dr Eric Horster as an innovation expert.
