Community futures mini-experiments / 2020
“How might kids have more of a voice and sense of agency in their future?”
The experiment
In July 2020 I repeated the “Paper Play for the Future” mini-experiment in Berlin, with eight kids aged 5-12.
The kids used collage, drawing and found objects to again respond to the question: ‘What if you could design how your world looked - what would it look like 20 years from now?”.
Many thanks to Systemic Design Group for supporting, hosting and photographing this event, and Fiona Meighan for activity inspiration.
Objectives & next steps
The experiment was about helping us think what actions we can take collectively to create better futures. It was also a way of harnessing creativity to explore ideas for transformative, hopeful futures.
The next plan is to invite the kids back to co-create messages from their stories to pass on to decision makers, making their voices and thoughts heard.
Creating stories of the future
The kids sketched and cut and paste from magazines to create ‘visual stories' on one of these topics:
Where would you live?
How will you get around?
How will you eat?
What are you eating?
How do you catchup with friends?
How will you have fun?
How will you keep fit?
Patterns, places, people, purpose
Themes in the kids’ creations:
Home-grown, sustainable, delicious food, especially icecream.
Consciousness of time, and tensions around them.
Plants, flowers, water elements, and nature in general.
Being warm and comfortable.
Playing sport, watching films, and reading books.
How much they love sleep!
How I will get around
In 2040 I will be 30.
I will get around in a flying car. You can drive down the road, and from the road just fly into the sky. It works with a battery; you can just plug it in, then it gets quicker. In the car that's me and my child, and my wife, and my other kid. There's thousands of cars going about. It has an invisible shield for safety. Biggest difference in 20 years: you can fly like an aeroplane and you can drive.
How and what I will eat
In 2040 I will be 31.
The rich people will be very lazy... lazier than now. They will be filled by their butlers with very unhealthy things. The normal people will buy food in a jar. It can be small jars or big ones. It's in a jar because the people want to be very quick. They can pick them and go around with the food in a jar. There will not be many people who eat meat. When they eat meat they will have their own animals in the garden or house and eat the animals by themselves. Just one cow or pig; not many. The food will not be different but it will be healthy.
How I will catchup with friends
In 2040 I will be 26.
There are unicorns. The unicorns are magic. It's a magic world. The friends are the twins and Vika. I chose unicorns because they are magic. I like magic because out of magic you can make anything you want. There's very much magic. The plants mean that Spring is on its way. I like bees then because they make honey. I like to look after the animals, with my friends.
Where I will live
In 2040 I will be 31.
I drew a house with a waterfall. It will not be mine; it's for other people. The waterfall will not be that big. The water goes into the pool, goes out and goes after again upstairs. Some of the water goes into the plants. And here you can do your own tomatoes, stuff like this. And here some flowers. Can be in any place you want to have it, even outside of Germany. Having it for more than one person is so you are not alone. It's made from stones, because it's easy to get. You don't need always the best stuff. You need to be happy with the stuff that you have.
Where I will live
In 2040 I will be 32.
I will live in a big city, where it's cold on one side, and warm on the others. There is a forest, and there is a beach. And there are houses, and a big housing block. The city will be colourful. It will be people from all of the world. I would add a beach, and big houses, and a sun.
How and what I will eat
In 2040 I will be 32.
We will have magnets in our hands, that we use to eat. Food is being transported from a different planet with a rocket, then with a car to a supermarket or a restaurant. The food will not really be different. There will be more fruit and vegetables, but there will also be a lot of meat. Biggest difference in 20 years: how we eat.
How did sessions compare across cities?
How this compared to a January 2020 session in Melbourne.
Similiarities
Water features were a common theme in both sessions
Flying, battery-powered vehicles were a theme in 2 of the Melbourne stories, and 1 of the Berlin stories
Differences
The Berlin kids drew themselves with friends, and one drew themself with their own family, as a grown-up
The Berlin kids described multi-person households that were collectives of people, not necessarily families
The Melbourne kids drew themselves alone, and some talked about living in regional areas surrounded by trees
Thank you to these amazing little (and big) people!
“We don’t need cars because we have feet to walk. We just have cars because we are lazy. Maybe for the hospital we need them. But we don’t need them really. We just need warm clothes that protects you. And communication. Video games you don’t need. I love them, but it’s just for fun. Nobody needs everything.”