Futures Garden aims at creating inspiring alternative future scenarios through the use of fictional future artefacts that invite to reflection and debate.

The project debuted with two themes: “Dealing with future selves” explores new ways of being, individually and collectively, examines new practices and technologies that enhance self-reflection and sharing of emotions, which help shape our choices in life and nurture a renewed sense of togetherness.

“Extending human perception to new scales” explores the richness of non-human intelligences and forms of communication, expanding our attention and appreciation for their unique sensory worlds, and in doing so departs from the human-centric worldview towards a deeper understanding and celebration of life on Earth.

The project is structured along several phases:

• Horizon scanning to identify early seeds of change that are relevant for the explored themes – new and emerging scientific concepts, technologies, social practices, values and behaviors that might shape a different future;

• Clustering horizon scanning outcomes into a set of thematic briefs that guide the speculative design; - Employing a speculative design process to create alternative future scenarios using fictional future artefacts;

• Engaging citizens and policy makers in interactive experiences around the artefacts, and harvesting their insights and critical questions; - Sharing the uniqueness of the process and its outcomes with a wider audience.