Event Details

Every Tuesday 9.30 – 10.30am, we invite a Lancaster academic to brief us on their research. The format is a 20 minute talk followed by discussion.

A method for imagining hopeful, positive, desirable futures

Tanja Hichert, Futures & Foresight practitioner & Dr. Rika Preiser, Stellenbosch University

In addition to current 'critical crises convergence', humanity is entering a new geological epoch - the Anthropocene - where it faces profound social and ecological risks. These challenges are reflected in an abundance of scientific and popular visions of future collapse and hardship. Yet, there are a multitude of positive and hopeful initiatives, ideas (visions), projects and examples (especially in the non-Western world) of how to deal with the challenges of the Anthropocene. We call them ‘seeds’ or ‘bright spots’ of a good Anthropocene. We have developed a novel method that uses these seeds (pockets of (good) futures in the present) to craft compelling visions of just, sustainable, desirable futures. We will explain how to use this method and provide examples of where it has been applied in different contexts and for topics other than the Anthropocene. The method can also be effectively used to enrich and deepen the conversation about change and transformation.