Day 03. Activating Global Futures

Participatory Futures

Wednesday June 24, 11:30am EDT
⚡ Lightning Talk, 15 minute session

Last year, I started the first undergraduate course in Speculative & Critical Design in Karachi at a liberal arts university located in Karachi, Pakistan. The course is transdisciplinary and is taken by students across multiple disciplines ranging from computer science, social development and policy and communication design. Through this talk I would like to share my experience working with students to engage with different local communities to imagine inclusive futures for all. We have been exploring and creating tools and methods of engagement to imagine alternative futures through a participatory process. The intent has been to look at the discipline from a critical and inclusive lense and to understand how people of different cultures understand and perceive futures and futuring differently. Our experience on ground has been challenging but has also resulted in many revelations which can help the discipline and its methods evolve.

In conditions of political and economic turmoil and extreme climate conditions, the need to have clear sight of preferable and inclusive futures is more important than ever before. In the context of the Global South, adhoc systems prevail and people feel they have no control or power over their own futures. How do you imagine futures when their present is unstable? How do you make people think about tomorrow when their minds are occupied surviving today? Which methods can be used to make sure we do not leave those out who need and can help create alternative and diverse futures and worlds? Through this talk I would like to address some of the questions we have raised and the insights that have been gained through my research.

Day 03 Schedule