Futures Literacy @ the Kennedy Foundation's Annual Youth Summit on Climate and Human Rights
2.04.22 | Futures Literacy Workshop: The Future of Human Rights in the Context of Climate Change at Kennedy Foundation's Annual Youth Summit
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Isabelle Vuong, reimagining our collective futures
Thinking and enabling futures
open futures foresight consultancy Berlin Lausanne Zurich
Futures Literacy: What is it?
Futures Literacy is about enhancing our capacity to imagine plural futures, which in turn makes us aware of new opportunities in the present.
The Futures Literacy Lab expands our understanding and imagination by inviting us to consider the future from three different angles – namely the probable, the desirable, and the alternative futures.
Its experiential approach harnesses creativity and collective intelligence at each of these three steps.
During this process, new questions arise and our understanding of futures deepens.
We start to consider futures from different perspectives and experience which are relevant to the issue considered. It then becomes possible to perceive more opportunities in our environment and to consider a wider range of actions in the here and now.
Broadening our horizon of futures means expanding our scope of action today.
Futures Literacy: What is it?
Les prochains cours organisés
Futures Literacy: A new Way of Thinking about the Future
Futures Literacy is part of a relatively recent paradigm shift in contemporary futures studies. This school of thought replaces the desire to know the future with an ability to act spontaneously, creatively and opportunistically here and now, without the limitations due to predefined visions and expectations.
Unlike conventional foresight, which is limited both in time and in scope (generally 3 to 6 different future scenarios), Futures Literacy, as the name suggests, aims to develop a literacy, i.e. a ‘future competence’, which can then be put to use in any circumstance.
It is about encouraging a capacity to navigate the uncertainty of the future, or a “capacity to dance with the unknown” as Riel Miller puts it.
Futures Literacy Lab
The UNESCO Futures Literacy (FL) Lab method is particularly well suited when challenges or the need for change arise (e.g.: digitalisation, climate change, social and political change, etc.) – which are the moments when we need to imagine and discover other paths and opportunities toward desirable futures.
Futures Literacy lends itself well to:
– A reflection on the future of a more or less large domain
Examples: future of democracy, future of cash, future of the cultural field, etc.
> Well suited for a professionals & network meeting, conference, or education program
– A reflection on the future of an organisation, a community or a company
Examples: the future of our organisation in 2030, the net zero future company in 2050, our community in 10 years
> Well suited for a vision/strategy/governance development, a community empowerment
program, an education program, or team building exercise
Futures Literacy Labs Portfolio
We have organised and facilitated Futures Literacy workshops for broad audiences, teams, or students and young people. Online and in person. In English, in German and in French.
Find out how you can benefit from
a Futures Literacy Lab.
Book a free meeting with our foresight director, Isabelle Vuong
through calendly, or write us an email.
© 2024 openfutures
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