Future Creating Workshops

09 Aug, 2025

A method to collectively envision desirable futures

The Future Creating Workshop (FCW) was invented by Robert Jungk and adapted by Critical Utopian Action Research scholars. Jungk believed that peaceful, sustainable futures required the involvement of everyday people and a common understanding of society’s problems. To this end, he thought that it was necessary to create free spaces where people could get together to express their commitment to shared and common issues ¹.

FCW should be centered around participants’ interests. It should be broad enough to encourage deep reflection about the problems, yet specific enough to draw from participants’ own lived experiences ². Within these spaces people can negotiate common meanings in ways that make sense to them. The idea is to collectively define a social imagination.

The FCW has 3 phases:

1. Critique: Where we identify the problems that get in the way of addressing a common issue. Here, being critical is acceptable and subjective experiences are welcome. The common practice are non-verbal exercises to brainstorm and to share insights.
2. Utopia: In this phase we dream, fantasize, push and challenge boundaries. We want to find out how do we really want to live. This exploration can be done through a variety of creative and playful activities to stimulate the imagination.
3. Realization: We hold on to the visions we created to move in their direction, even if just to pursue a small part of them. Here is where planning, strategizing and designing comes in.

The FCW is flexible method and allows for different ways of implementing it. It can short or long, virtual or in-person. It also makes room for creative activities, which can make the workshop more engaging and make space for different thoughts-feelings and ways of knowing. Dr. Lesley Ann Noel provides excellent examples of FCW implementation through her own iteration called Critical Utopian Design Thinking (CUAD). CUAD is a framework that combines critical pedagogy, design thinking, and Critical Utopian Action Research ³.

How did I use this method?

For the Utopian Food Futures in Winnipeg I combined this method with Ruth Levitas’ Imaginary Reconstitution of Society ⁴ to articulate explicit visions and then analyze them.

During the realization session participants were asked to take identify the actors, infrastructure and values reflected in the vision. Once the elements were identified we looked at what exists in the present and what is needed to bring reality closer to the vision.

Conclusion

I think the FCW is a great tool for planning and community building. The layout makes space first to vent, complain, negotiate and acknowledge what is wrong in a safe, judgment-free, non-threatening environment. Then, during the utopia phase a space-time is created where our dreams became true. This allows for further negotiation of our collective desires and for the reorganization of our ways of life in a low stake setting. Ethical explorations can go as far as necessary without the bounds of what can supposedly be done. A bold vision is a means on its own to move us closer to better ways of living and being. Thus, finally in the realization phase we can draft and prototype strategies, policies, campaigns and/or services from a deeper understanding of our coexistence and interdependence.

As part of my project I am working on a Future Creating Workshop guide for anyone interested in using this method. Stay tuned!

References:

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