At this moment, it is critical that we imagine a better future. While all of us think and worry about the future, a dedicated futures practice enables us to actively create the future in partnership with others creating a more just and sustainable world.
Our futures practice is an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the forces, both big and small, that shape the future. This includes macro trends as well as the people, ideas, mindsets, and worldviews that birth diverse futures. We use futures thinking to help organizations grapple with uncertainty and change over the long term. By revealing the complex interplay of dynamic trends, identifying risks, and searching for signals of powerful innovations, our futures practice helps organizations discover where and how to act.
Our futures and foresight work utilizes a variety of methods to shape decision making in the present to build futures that are resilient, diverse, just, and peaceful. We gather information in a variety of ways; from participatory, community-led workshops to digital data gathering. Information is used to employ a number of tools such as scenario building, horizon scanning, speculative design, and visioning.
Our futures processes are designed to challenge assumptions and fundamentally shift our mindsets. We bring this work internally as well – and constantly examine the role of ourselves and our partners within the system we hope to change. The following design principles outline the values and approach we bring to our futures work.
We believe in action-oriented futures. Our futures practice serves our greater ambitions for a just and regenerative future – with human and planetary thriving. Grounded in signals of the future we are spotting today, these real world examples serve as the basis of our futures projects. We try to make futures real and tangible, not too distant, so that we can encourage action within the organisations and partners we work with today.
We provoke with joy, stretching ambition and the realm of what is possible. We try to hold a balance between creating positive inspirational visions of the future and readiness for the multiple bleaker futures we may have to navigate.
A rigorous futures project utilizes a range of data sources. We conduct expert interviews, engage in site visits and desk research to help us gather industry trends and signals of change
We believe in participatory, inclusive futures that bring in diverse perspectives and knowledge and are collaborative and design and develop our practice with others but not simply for people. We constantly ask the question- who is this future for? We view futures as a tool for agency in creating change and especially work to decolonize futures practice and the visions we create.
Our work takes on diverse processes and formats to see what will work best for our audiences. This includes games, workshops, toolkits, artifacts, articles, podcasts, and more. We try to reach wide audiences through work that is immersive, creative, and accessible.
We embed foresight and scenario planning into decision-making, co-creating future-proof strategies and ambitious visions that turn uncertainty into opportunity.
We upskill organisational teams with bespoke futures literacy, tools and coaching so they can champion long-term, regenerative change from within.
We equip organisations with adaptive frameworks and dynamic horizon scanning to confidently navigate volatile, ambiguous landscapes.
We surface beliefs about the future in order to challenge assumptions, confront bias, shift mindsets, and activate strategic decision making.
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"Imagining a better future is a core part of our humanity. While we think and stress about the future, a dedicated futures practice enables us to see the future as something that we actively create. Planning strategically for long-term futures is critical for sustainability and for solving the complex problems the world faces yet it can sometimes feel that the crises of the present take priority.
To create a more just and sustainable world we need to consider both the present and future at the same time. It is important to challenge present day assumptions and reshape our mindsets. We can use the future as a space to think about, and experiment with new concepts as well as a space to challenge attitudes, dismantle and rebuild. This may feel uncomfortable but it is vital to process the change that is happening now, as well as set up systems for greater resilience and transformation."
Alisha Bhagat, Forum's Futures Lead
A Forum for the Future initiative, in partnership with The Earthshot Prize, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors and Trane Technologies, the Future of Sustainability: Reimagining the Way the World Works is showcasing the social and climate initiatives shaping a better future, today.
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Step into the future and play a fast-paced immersive game to test your ability to make decisions around critical issues such as transition minerals, food prices, and other macro trends, as they pertain to climate funding. Read more
A Forum for the Future initiative in partnership with The Earthshot Prize, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors and Trane Technologies. Amid escalating global challenges, we’re showcasing the social and climate initiatives that are already shaping a better future. Read more
In a bid to enable leaders and change-makers to remain ambitious and focused on transformation, Forum for the Future’s latest Future of Sustainability report, Courage to Transform, provides a new analysis of how businesses are responding to today’s crises. Read more
Three months on and as part of Looking Back to Go Forward, James Payne, Forum’s Associate Director for Transformational Strategies, shares insights on how the Compass has landed and the implications for business leaders wanting to adopt a just and regenerative mindset. Read more
As humanity and the planet reach a critical inflection point, Forum’s latest Future of Sustainability thinking reflects on what the past can teach us about what is needed now if we are to shape a more just and regenerative future. Read more
Bringing together climate mitigation-focused civil society organisations in India, to build resilience and increase collective impact through a participatory programme of futures and systems thinking. Read more
Forum for the Future's latest Future of Sustainability report explores five key dynamic areas with major influence on human, planetary and economic health, and reveals four distinct trajectories emerging from the COVID-19 crisis. Read more
A new Forum report shines a light on the huge untapped potential of fashion manufacturers to contribute to the fashion sector’s circular transformation and highlights the opportunity to recalibrate industry power dynamics as the industry emerges from the COVID-19 crisis. Read more
An interactive toolkit exploring how current trends - from climate change to nationalism and AI - could shape fashion in 2030 Read more
Find out about the <2°C Futures Scenarios, created to help business navigate climate impacts and make more informed decisions. Read more
A practical tool based around four future scenarios to help consumer goods organisations plan for the years ahead. Read more
Climate Futures analyses the social, political, economic and psychological consequences of climate change describing how different global responses could lead to five very different worlds by 2030. Read more
Applying our futures and systems expertise, we helped a global agency understand the future sources of vulnerability for children and adolescents in South Asia and how they might address them. Read more
Working with Levi Strauss and Co using futures techniques to develop global scenarios for a sustainable fashion industry. Read more
Civil Society Futures is a national conversation about how English civil society can flourish in a fast changing world, and how to maximise the positive effects of civic action and provide a guide to how to release its potential to drive positive change. Read more