Visions of transition: centering the future in engaged sustainability research

Abstract

This article calls on sustainability researchers to place visions of the future at the center of their analyses. Recognizing humans as reflexive elements of socio-ecological systems, it proceeds from the premise that how people think about the future has significant consequences for the realities that ultimately ensue. The ideas presented here are informed by a qualitative/open-form survey designed to illuminate respondents’ visions of the future. Completed by participants in the Transition movement for climate change resilience, survey responses indicate that Transition participants’ visions are both exceptionally holistic and consciously connected to their present actions. These findings have important implications for the development of sustainable programs and systems. More broadly, this article argues that exploring how individuals and groups envision the future offers (1) a new appreciation of conceptions of the future as distinctive (sub)cultural attributes, (2) an understanding of how visions of the future influence actions in the present, (3) an enhanced capacity for anticipation and proactive response, and (4) opportunities to inspire diverse audiences by conveying the possibility of positive futures. Acknowledging the ability of engaged scholarship to change not only how people imagine the world but also how the material world takes shape, this work underscores researchers’ moral obligation to contribute to the creation of more sustainable futures. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s43545-022-00356-1.

Visualizing, Illustrating and Communicating Future Water Visions to Support Learning and Sustainability Transitions

“…• a rapid scoping review and workshops on key concepts, principles and approaches identified in the science discourse, such as systems thinking and analysis; management change; circular economy principles; regenerative methods; water-energy-food-nexus; polycentric governance; cocreation; shared values; the Three Horizons Framework; scenario planning and policy mapping; Systems Innovation Approach; future visioning, future-scaping, envisioning, transition pathways, adaptive pathways and the 'What if' approach; forecasting and backcasting; bioregional planning; landscape frameworks and optioneering; and communication and pedagogy [17,20,23,29,31,36,[42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61];…”

“…This can help non-scientists feel they are not excluded as opposed to always included; they can engage if and when they want rather than throughout their whole life [33]. As [23] also notes, envisioning the future with communities enables individuals and groups to bring aspects of their cultural and sub-cultural attributes into an otherwise potentially dominantly technocratic process.…”

Exploring possibilities for child participation in guideline development: The need for a fundamental reconsideration and reconfiguration of the system

“…Many different actors from the Dutch system were involved in this project. Using the project's interview data, this paper explores what a guideline development system in which children are meaningfully involved could look like, to inspire and foster systemic change (Willow, 2022). Moreover, we reflect on the transition towards such a system and provide recommendations for action for policymakers, guideline developers and other actors involved.…”

Visualising, Illustrating and Communicating Future Water Visions to Support Learning and Sustainability Transitions

“…Focusing on the resulting nontechnical aspects of the illustrations can help non-scientists feel they are not excluded as opposed to always included; they can engage if and when they want [37]. As [23] also notes, envisioning the future with communities enables individuals and groups to bring aspects of their cultural and sub-cultural attributes into an otherwise potentially dominantly technocratic process.…”