THE FUTURES BAZAAR

Thinking concretely about alternative futures is harder and rarer than it should be. THE FUTURES BAZAAR is a public imagination toolkit to make exploring times to come easier, more fun, and more common. Released by the British Broadcasting Corporation and Situation Lab (publishers of The Thing From The Future), the kit has been used by groups in various parts of the world, and recently won the inaugural Inclusive Foresight Award from the Association of Professional Futurists.

A Futures Bazaar revolves around participants bringing in ordinary household objects that might otherwise be thrown away, and, step by step, turning them into artifacts from various future worlds. Funny or sad, thrilling or scary, the collective imagining of the gathering can be taken in whatever directions are important to the group. Whether the context is a classroom, a community festival, or a professional team seeking a creative retreat activity (the pilot event was staged for 200 designers from across the BBC), the kit includes everything a would-be organiser might need to start planning their own event.

The self-contained kit requires minimal resources to run, and in an effort to spread futures fluency more widely, it has been made available in open access for download, adaptation and non-commercial use by anyone, anywhere.