Research pathways

Participatory futures

How can people imagine, prototype and influence the futures they share?

Participatory futures brings people into the work of imagining possible worlds and making those possibilities tangible. Across workshops, objects, performances and civic prototypes, shared questions become proposals that can be discussed, tested and experienced.

Selected projects

Sensory Salon · 2024

Youth and staff envision spaces for care through valuestorming and spatial dioramas, informing the finished installations.

People & partners

Workshops and teaching

Futures Gazing · 2023

Immersive, playful experiences introduce doctoral candidates to a method for working backward from societal outcomes.

Deep Science Ventures · Extrapolation Factory archive · People & partners

Futurematic · 2014

Participants use scenario prompts to make artifacts from possible futures, then circulate them through a vending machine.

OCAD University · Situation Lab · Extrapolation Factory archive · People & partners

99¢ Futures · 2013

Workshop participants turn forecasts into stories and products, brought into an everyday neighborhood store.

Studio-X NYC · Extrapolation Factory archive · People & partners

Modeling Futures · Spring 2016

A course offering at Pioneer Works extends futures inquiry into a teaching setting.

Pioneer Works · Teaching archive · People & partners

Reading and tools

Resources

Carbon Care Commoning Kit · PDF
Instructions, scripts and collective exercises accompanying the project.

Continue through the project archive or the Collaborations index.

View all portfolio projects tagged Participatory futures

Browse the full teaching archive and workshop archive.