3 - Alternative futures based on alternative rationales | DesignLab

Alternative futures based on alternative rationales

What: An Imagine and Ideate exercise, to 'tangibilise' futures and abstract concepts
Goal: Envision alternative future(s)
When: After 'Exploring alternative rationales'
Duration: 30 mins

Introduction

Envision alternative future(s).

How it works

Pick a rationale for an alternative future. Pick the most promising/inspiring/most exciting one.
Envision a future (in 2040) in which one of the alternative rationales you have defined will prevail. These will be the ‘alternative imaginaries’ for [insert topic].
Worldbuilding: What would that future of [insert topic] be like? Speculate about experiences, activities, practices, dominant technologies and interactions of actors with each other (and the system).

Tip: to brainstorm, you may use the Futures Wheel placing the new rationale in the center and coming up with direct and indirect consequences of it.

Tip(s) for moderator

This exercise has to be the third one of the "exploring alternative rationales' format. Starting with the baseline, coming up with consequences if the rationale changed, this exercise helps to create a future world to explore the impacts of a new rationale in the system.

Output

New understanding of a future world in which the rationale around a specific societal challenge has shifted.

download(s)

Next step(s)

You may tangibilise this alternative future by making a provotype (go to Provotype exercise), or directly engage in discussion about what is desirable and undesirable about it with the 'Back to the future', part of 'Reflect and Reframe'.

Overview

Other methods and tools to 'Imagine and Ideate':

1 - Alternative futures from non-repeating history