Just last week, this year’s Communication Congress of the Bundesverband der Kommunikatoren (the German association of communicators) was held entirely under the motto “futures.” Berlin’s Futurium bears the subtitle “House of Futures” and has been showcasing the possible diversity of ideas about the future since it opened in 2019.
NATO research director Florence Gaub’s 2023 bestseller Zukunft – eine Bedienungsanleitung may have “future” in the singular in its title, but between the lines it repeatedly makes clear that she advocates thinking in alternatives. At conferences such as re:publica, talks about futures in the plural have long been nothing unusual, and in the ARD podcast mal angenommen the question “What if?” is at the heart of things.
Not all of this relates to approaches from futures studies, but one thing matters most to us: think about your ideas of futures – whatever the topic, be it political issues, your organization, or other areas of interest.
Florence Gaub on her book at re:publica 2024
Have you noticed, too, that everyone is suddenly talking about futures these days?
