Critical Futures

For me, Critical Futures refers to a critical examination of existing images of the future. Critical Futures Studies is the more academic approach while Critical Futures is the umbrella term for all critical work that can also happen in Foresight projects, journalistic work, and many other contexts.

Critical Futures Articles

Linked References

Anti-Dystopia
A concept developed by Isabella Hermann Historical Context: The Dystopian Boom
Article – Beyond Capitalist Realism
‘Beyond Capitalist Realism – Why We Need Critical Future Studies’ by Luke Goode and Micheal Godhe (PDF)
Causal Layered Analysis (CLA)
A comprehensive guide to understanding and applying Sohail Inayatullah’s transformative futures methodology
Comparable and related approaches
This article is part of my Master’s Thesis - Future Imaginaries. Previous Chapter: 2.2 Imaginaries
Critical Futures Studies
The field of Futures Studies describes “the scientific concern with possible, desirable and probable future developments”1. While the majority of...
Cultural Undercurrents
When we talk about “trends” in our contemporary discourse, we often conflate surface-level behavioral shifts with deeper structural transformations. I’ve...
Paper – From Critique to Cultural Recovery
A monograph by José M. Ramos titled From Critique to Cultural Recovery – Critical futures studies and Causal Layered Analysis...
Future Imaginaries from Goode and Godhe
This article is part of my Master’s Thesis - Future Imaginaries. Previous Chapter: 2.3.4 Imaginaries from Lockton and Candy
Futures Triangle
A diagnostic tool for mapping competing forces that shape futures
Images of the Future from Inayatullah
This article is part of my Master’s Thesis - Future Imaginaries. Previous Chapter: 2.1.2 Pull of the Future from Polak...
Introduction
This article is part of my Master’s Thesis - Future Imaginaries.
Key Questions in Critical Futures Studies
At the heart of Critical Futures Studies (CFS), as articulated by Sohail Inayatullah, lies the endeavor to “loosen the future.”...
Literature on Critical Futures Studies
Maybe one of the best ways to dive deeper into Critical Futures Studies is a monograph by José M. Ramos...
Master's Thesis – Future Imaginaries
I did my master’s in futures research from 2017 to 2020 at the FU Berlin. In my master’s thesis, submitted...
Methods
A comprehensive overview of methods, frameworks, and tools in foresight and futures studies
Nele Fischer on Critical Futures Studies
Futures studies are primarily an applied science, focusing on generating knowledge that helps individuals and organizations make informed decisions in...
No future is neutral
It is one of the most glaring oversights in the often sanitized and made digestible work on futures in corporate...
The Overton Window
This is a Primer primer on the Overton Window.
Polak Game
A diagnostic futures tool for surfacing assumptions about agency and optimism
Pull of the Future
This article is part of my Master’s Thesis - Future Imaginaries. Previous Chapter: 2.1.1 Present futures from Grunwald
Real Utopias
Real Utopias represent sociologist Erik Olin Wright’s influential framework for pursuing emancipatory social transformation through pragmatic, institutionally grounded alternatives to...
Research Questions
This article is part of my Master’s Thesis - Future Imaginaries. Previous Chapter: 1.2 Approach
Roles of Future Imaginaries
This article is part of my Master’s Thesis - Future Imaginaries. Previous Chapter: 3.2.2 Components of future imaginaries
Situating the Researcher
This article is part of my Master’s Thesis - Future Imaginaries. Previous Chapter: 1.4 Critical Futures Studies
Sohail Inayatullah
UNESCO Chair in Futures Studies and Developer of Causal Layered Analysis
Trends
_This is a Primer primer. A related note is Trend Report This is not a trend report._
Utopia as Method and Metamodernism - A Synthesis
This note explores the convergence and productive tensions between Ruth Levitas’s Utopia as Method and Metamodernism, examining how their combination...
Utopia as Method
Utopia as Method represents Ruth Levitas’s groundbreaking reconceptualization of Utopia utopian thinking from static blueprint to dynamic methodology. Rather than...
Utopia
_This is a Primer primer on utopia. Related notes: Utopia as Method, Real Utopias_
What good is scientific rigor when nobody gives a shit
This note is based on a Twitter thread I wrote while attending a futures studies conference in Finnland.
What good is scientific rigor when nobody gives a shit?
This note is based on a Twitter thread I wrote while attending a futures studies conference in Finnland.
Critical Futures
For me, Critical Futures refers to a critical examination of existing images of the future. Critical Futures Studies is the...

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