Step 1: Imagining what our ideal future looks like
With Next Era, we want to explore how we can build brighter futures for our generation. The first step in this process is to explore what these brighter futures really are. By allowing a diverse cast of voices to explore their cosy futures, we can start creating a shared vision of the world that we can work towards.
Whilst we imagine that every human will have a slightly different individual cosy future, there will inevitably be shared desires, like social connection, meaning in life, and material security. By providing for these basic human needs, we can allow each person to flourish in their own way.
Step 2: Exploring what developments can enable that future
Next, after having defined our cosy futures, we must explore pathways for getting there. With Next Era, young experts explore across diverse fields, from healthcare in developing countries, to nature conservation or sustainable housing, how we can create the material basis enabling our cosy futures. This process involves both a clear understanding of the problems we have today, and an exploration of the solutions being developed around us. Together, exploring our problems and new solutions lets us define our emergent futures – glimpses of what the world could look like when we start expanding these alternatives.
Now, we have an image of what we want the future to look like, and we know on a macro level the problems we are fighting against, and what alternatives are slowly emerging around us.
Step 3: Discussing how we can take initiative ourselves
The final step in our exploration of how to contribute to positive change is to understand what role we as individual humans can play. Here, young changemakers tell stories for Next Era about how they and their communities are developing and supporting exciting solutions to our complex 21st-century challenges. From youth mental health initiatives, to climate activism, to running for political office, there are countless stories of inspiring young people taking steps towards our cosy futures. And by understanding their stories, we can learn how to take action, and empower ourselves to create a cosy future for our generation.
- Read more about what cosy futures are here.
- Inspired by Aleksi Neuvonen’s work on backcasting scenarios.
