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Participatory Futures: Imagining and Shaping Potential Futures Together

Writer's picture: Jackie NagtegaalJackie Nagtegaal



Participatory Futures (PF) represents a range of approaches that involve people in imagining and shaping potential futures. This concept aims to democratise long-term thinking and guide present activities by engaging participants in envisioning what lies ahead. From large-scale engagements involving citizens from multiple countries to local or regional initiatives, PF offers a diverse array of applications. It can be driven by institutions, integrated into policy or strategy-making processes, or be citizen-led and independent of formal decision-making structures. Sometimes, hybrid models emerge where institutions facilitate conditions for citizen-driven PF to flourish, blending activism with vision building and action research methods.


The essence of PF lies in its ability to contextualise the plasticity of the future, allowing people to explore new behaviours and actions. It has three broad aims:


  1. Encouraging and Democratising Long-Term Thinking: PF shifts foresight to create collective intelligence, empowering communities to think beyond immediate concerns and consider long-term implications.

  2. Scaffolding Public Imagination: By drawing out ideas and knowledge about the future, PF helps build preferred futures and collective mental images, fostering a shared vision among participants.

  3. Prefigurative Activities: These activities translate collective images of preferred futures into behaviours and actions in the present, enabling communities to start living the future they envision.


PF also opens up a future beyond Western ideals, challenging the dominance of Western definitions and allowing new narratives to emerge.


As noted by Sardar, “The real might of the West resides in its power to define.” Through participative approaches, these definitions are diluted, and diverse perspectives are brought to the fore.

However, PF has faced criticism for lacking scientific rigour. Critics argue that PF research often fails to meet the basic requirements of genuine research and sometimes resembles consulting services rather than scientific inquiry. They call for clear disclosure of methodological claims, specific quality factors for future-oriented research, critical representation of the project's development, provision of data or theoretical knowledge, and realistic assessments of participatory research's limited scope. These criticisms highlight the need for PF to evolve with more rigorous evaluations and longitudinal studies.


Despite these challenges, those working in the field acknowledge the criticisms and strive to address them. The limited number of rigorous evaluations and substantial evidence can be attributed to the eclectic nature of the field, difficulties in evaluating intangible and qualitative benefits, or the assumption that the impact is self-evident. To foster the maturity and mainstream acceptance of PF, systematic experimentation and evaluation are necessary to build a robust evidence base. A framework for evaluating the impact of PF has been developed to support this growth.


As a developing movement, PF includes modern approaches such as play, immersion, sensing, creating, and deliberating. It offers a loose framework rather than a strict taxonomy, acknowledging the intricate nature of futures studies and its dynamic development. PF remains a relevant and promising movement, particularly among young futurists committed to more collaborative approaches.


Participatory Futures is about more than just predicting what lies ahead; it’s about actively involving people in the process of shaping their futures. By encouraging collective imagination and fostering long-term thinking, PF empowers communities to create the future they desire, making it a powerful tool for social change and innovation.

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Zurika Gibson

Consultant

Zurika is a Human Capital Expert, Futurist, Strategist, and Innovator with a passion for creating Thinking Environments. As a certified Time to Think Coach, she excels in coaching and mentoring, driving transformative solutions across diverse fields.

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Jackie Nagtegaal

Consultant

Jackie holds a PhD in futures studies, with a background in law. Her works takes a  creative and transcontextual approach.

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Will van der Merwe

Consultant

Willem has led cross-functional teams in Strategy, Behaviour Change, Human-Centered Design, and Digital Communications. He focuses on impact-driven work in the International Development Sector.

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