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What is Futures Literacy? And why is it Important?

Authors:
Riel Miller at Ecole des Ponts Business School; University of New Brunswick; University of Stavanger
Riel Miller
  • Ecole des Ponts Business School; University of New Brunswick; University of Stavanger
Jennette Kaeseler Mortensen
Jennette Kaeseler Mortensen
Jennette Kaeseler Mortensen
  • This person is not on ResearchGate, or hasn't claimed this research yet.
Nicklas Larsen
Nicklas Larsen
Nicklas Larsen
  • This person is not on ResearchGate, or hasn't claimed this research yet.
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https://medium.com/copenhagen-institute-for-futures-studies/what-is-futures-literacy-and-why-is-it-important-a27f24b983d8
https://medium.com/copenhagen-institute-for-futures-studies/what-is-futures-literacy-and-why-is-it-important-a27f24b983d8
https://medium.com/copenhagen-institute-for-futures-studies/what-is-futures-literacy-and-why-is-it-important-a27f24b983d8
https://medium.com/copenhagen-institute-for-futures-studies/what-is-futures-literacy-and-why-is-it-important-a27f24b983d8
https://medium.com/copenhagen-institute-for-futures-studies/what-is-futures-literacy-and-why-is-it-important-a27f24b983d8
... One possible way to challenge our ways of thinking and acting is to develop Futures Literacy (FL), the capability to use and imagine multiple futures for different purposes and contexts (Larsen, Kaeseler Mortensen & Miller, 2020). FL stresses the importance of approaching the future not only from a perspective of planning and preparation, but also in a more explorative way. ...
... Diversifying the ways we view the world can help us to overcome fear of change and to welcome uncertainty and novelty as a resource for creativity and imagination (Larsen et al., 2020). In the words of Bergheim (2021), when he reflects on acquiring FL as a capability: "even if starting from a deep-seated fear of the future, new hope, new confidence and new action can emerge". ...
Environmental Education in Brazil: Analysis of Theses and Dissertations and Aspects of Interculturality and Decoloniality . (in) : CHALLENGES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION RESEARCH IN TIMES OF CLIMATE CRISIS 15TH INVITATIONAL SEMINAR ON ENVIRONMENTAL & SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION RESEARCH Edited by Graphic design Juliane Höhle Photography Title page
Chapter
Full-text available
  • Oct 2022
As we have reported in some papers, book chapters, congresses, and seminars (Fracalanza et al., 2009; Carvalho and Silva, 2011; Carvalho and Souza, 2018; Carvalho et al., 2019; Pereira et al.; 2022), an inter-institutional group of Brazilian researchers has carried out the project “State of the Art of Environmental Education Research in Brazil – analysis of master’s and doctoral studies - 1981 – 2020 (EArte Project, which means – Environmental Education – state of the art –) since 2008. In its heart, the EArte Project entails the construction and maintenance of a database of theses and dissertations on environmental education in Brazil. Moreover, the objective of this research project is to give a descriptive and mapping overview of Brazilian Environmental Education Research (EER), regarding institutional, regional, and educational contexts, such as universities, post-graduation programs, and the regions of Brazil where these research studies were carried out. Furthermore, the EER databases provide information for researchers interested in more comprehensive and interpretative studies considering their particular interests3 . Since 2016 a group of researchers from different Latin-American countries has made an effort towards an internationalization process of the EArte Project: a network of researchers in environmental education in Latin America and the Caribbean has carried out a state-of-the-art environmental education research - “EArte Alyc”. Researchers from Universities in Mexico, Cuba, Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, and Chile have taken part in this project. The main objective is to analyze and identify panoramas and tendencies in knowledge production (meta-analysis) in the field of Environmental Education in the Latin-American and Caribbean territory. In an effort to open up discussions and dialogues in this seminar related to the subtheme “Sustainability Issues as Controversial Educational Content,” a brief summary of one doctoral study and two master’s studies, carried out by researchers linked to the EArte project, were selected. Also, some possible questions and theoretical and methodological perspectives have been raised from the results of these studies based on the background of this project. We are mainly interested in investigating the limits and frontiers of the field of EE research, as well as in knowing what aspects of the dialogues with Afro- Amerindian cosmopolitics can contribute to a decolonial EE research agenda. These ideas have led us to follow a research question: what has been produced by researchers in Brazil on Environmental Education, and are there any decoloniality and interculturality aspects? From this central question we intent give shape to the environmental discourse, presenting it as dynamic and plural in the current academic production in Brazil through the presentation of three state-of-the-art studies in environmental education produced in the context of the inter-institutional EArte project.
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... One possible way to challenge our ways of thinking and acting is to develop Futures Literacy (FL), the capability to use and imagine multiple futures for different purposes and contexts (Larsen, Kaeseler Mortensen & Miller, 2020). FL stresses the importance of approaching the future not only from a perspective of planning and preparation, but also in a more explorative way. ...
... Diversifying the ways we view the world can help us to overcome fear of change and to welcome uncertainty and novelty as a resource for creativity and imagination (Larsen et al., 2020). In the words of Bergheim (2021), when he reflects on acquiring FL as a capability: "even if starting from a deep-seated fear of the future, new hope, new confidence and new action can emerge". ...
View
... One possible way to challenge our ways of thinking and acting is to develop Futures Literacy (FL), the capability to use and imagine multiple futures for different purposes and contexts (Larsen, Kaeseler Mortensen & Miller, 2020). FL stresses the importance of approaching the future not only from a perspective of planning and preparation, but also in a more explorative way. ...
... Diversifying the ways we view the world can help us to overcome fear of change and to welcome uncertainty and novelty as a resource for creativity and imagination (Larsen et al., 2020). In the words of Bergheim (2021), when he reflects on acquiring FL as a capability: "even if starting from a deep-seated fear of the future, new hope, new confidence and new action can emerge". ...
View
... They both critically examine and deconstruct 'certainties' and 'realities'. However, having emerged from the field of foresight Futures Literacy Labs "harness the power of images of the future" (Larsen et al., 2020). They explore the participants' assumptions and encourage them to comprehend how they think and what their anticipatory assumptions are. ...
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... side predefined paradigms, or to sense and make sense of phenomena that may not belong to pre-existing models. Imagined futures that do not arise from efforts to address what is currently deemed probable or desirable have no place in mainstream thinking" (Larsen et al. 2020). Ein wesentliches Ziel von Zukünftebildung ist es, diesen Reduktionismus zu durchbrechen und neuartige Phänomene überhaupt erst sichtbar zu machen. ...
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... Futures Literacy is already incorporated in the curriculum for Master's students at the Hanze University of Applied Sciences in Groningen, Netherlands, under the leadership of Loes Damhof, unesco Chair in Futures Literacy. In this context, students and teachers not only learn the capability of working about possible and probable futures, but also on how to design and facilitate them in order to apply their anticipated values and benefits in their studies and work (Larsen et al., 2020). These universal skills cover most of the above-mentioned IDGs framework to help accelerating the work towards the UN's SDGs (IDGs, 2021). ...
Multi-Resilience - Development - Sustainability Requirements for securing the future of societies in the 21st century
Book
  • Nov 2022
The book, deliberately written in generally understandable language for all interested readers, paints a unique, transdisciplinary overall picture of resilience as a national and international social factor of our time. It shows that in terms of socio-political significance, the concept of resilience is in no way inferior to the older, hitherto dominant concepts of sustainability and development; indeed, it actively complements them, in some cases contradicts them, but also completes them. Resilience as a societal factor involves all sectors, such as politics, the economy, science and civil society, and thus represents an indispensable frame of reference in the overarching recent debate on the "learning society".
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... Futures Literacy is already incorporated in the curriculum for Master's students at the Hanze University of Applied Sciences in Groningen, Netherlands, under the leadership of Loes Damhof, unesco Chair in Futures Literacy. In this context, students and teachers not only learn the capability of working about possible and probable futures, but also on how to design and facilitate them in order to apply their anticipated values and benefits in their studies and work (Larsen et al., 2020). These universal skills cover most of the above-mentioned IDGs framework to help accelerating the work towards the UN's SDGs (IDGs, 2021). ...
Resilience: A Universal Answer to the Crises of Our Time?
Chapter
  • Nov 2022
In the face of manifold crisis bundles and bundled crises, the question of preventive ‘protective factors’ that enables societies to cope with multiple and diverse uncertainties and adversities has increasingly arisen in recent years. The concept of resilience, which is used in many ways, is currently being discussed as a counter-concept to the concept of vulnerability that prevailed for decades. Where does the concept of resilience come from and how is it used? Which contributions does the resilience concept offer as a ‘one-word answer’ to different types of problems (psychological, political, economic, ecological, social and other crises) and different system levels (individuals, organisations, societies)?
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... Futures Literacy is already incorporated in the curriculum for Master's students at the Hanze University of Applied Sciences in Groningen, Netherlands, under the leadership of Loes Damhof, unesco Chair in Futures Literacy. In this context, students and teachers not only learn the capability of working about possible and probable futures, but also on how to design and facilitate them in order to apply their anticipated values and benefits in their studies and work (Larsen et al., 2020). These universal skills cover most of the above-mentioned IDGs framework to help accelerating the work towards the UN's SDGs (IDGs, 2021). ...
Outlook: Five Leverage Points to Trigger Social Change
Chapter
  • Nov 2022
From the considerations in the previous chapters, it can be concluded that all three currently dominant societal guiding concepts - the developed, the sustainable and the resilient society - contribute important aspects that need to be considered and integrated in the face of today’s and tomorrow’s global challenges. The eight principles outlined above provide a possible orientation for this integration. However, they are not sufficient on their own to trigger the necessary change. What are leverage points to induce societal change?
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Towards a more inclusive mobility: participatory mobility planning at a metropolitan scale
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Participatory processes are an essential aspect of collaborative planning and decision-making processes, but designing such processes effectively can be quite challenging. This work departs from the assumptions that in sustainable urban mobility planning, the functional urban area needs to be considered, and that citizen engagement is often enacted at the neighborhood level. Under these assumptions, we have examined the experiences of 6 metropolitan cases (Bologna, Nantes, Manchester, Montreal, Christchurch, and Santiago de Chile) and draw insights from their experiences. We conclude this work with some general reflections on the importance of systemic approaches to effectively plan for sustainable transitions in urban mobility.
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Future Preparedness in the Twenty-First Century: Contours of an Integrative Concept
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It can be summarised from the previous reflections that at least three guiding principles have to be considered, which overlap in large parts, but also complement and contradict each other in some points. To what extent can the guiding principles of a resilient, developed and sustainable society be brought together to form an integrative concept for societal future preparedness?
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