Explain about the future

A story of change
Trying to get people to alter their behaviours and norms for something that doesn’t hurt the climate, or giving up some really bad personal behaviours in favour of a better future for all, requires more than the presentation of facts and the adoption of new technology. It needs a story.


That story should be about a good life, a high quality low carbon life. (Underpinned by scientific evidence, such as the 1,5 degree lifestyle report by Sitra, based on the aspirational target of the Paris Agreement). Our life will inevitably be different from the one we have gone accustomed to since it will need to be within the planetary boundaries, but with an equally high life quality.
It’s evident that the willingness to change and the technology and other solutions needed are already here, albeit unevenly distributed. It’s because the future is already here, albeit unevenly distributed, to quote author William Gibson. Hence, the story of the future doesn’t need to be about a distant future but about the future already present today, using everyday people as characters that conveys what it feels like to be living the good life of the future, already today. (This echos a recent report from OECD that highlights the need for refocusing policies, through a well-being lens)
Let’s be clear: it’s not about creating one unifying story about the future. No human experience the present in exactly the same way, and that’s not going to change in the future. (Nor will we create commercials, portraying an idealised view of what life could be in the future.) Instead we hope to foster many stories of the future, a multitude of narratives and experiences of what it is to live in a city today and what it could be like tomorrow.
That said, the stories will have to be within a framework of the meta-narratives that describe our era. Thus they can’t be too utopian in terms of how life is lived or how society is constructed (or involve flying cars) and at the same time have to avoid the top-down perspective we often associate with grand narratives. (For more on how meta-narratives shape the way we see our world I’d recommend thinker Tomas Björkmans book The World We Create — from God to Market as well as psychologist Katarzyna Stemplewska-Zakowicz piece on the philosophical and historical viewpoint on problems related to grand narratives.)