VERGE Framework

VERGE Framework

Overview

The VERGE framework is an ethnographic futures tool designed as a human-centered alternative to the STEEP framework for environmental scanning and futures research. Rather than focusing on external macro-environmental drivers, VERGE examines change through the lens of human experience and agency123.

The Six Domains

VERGE organizes exploration around six fundamental domains of human experience:

  • Define: How people define themselves, their communities, and their environment - covering identity, boundaries, and meaning-making
  • Relate: How people relate to one another through social structures, relationships, and networks
  • Connect: How people connect physically, virtually, and emotionally - including communication, transportation, and digital connectivity
  • Create: How people create value, products, and systems - addressing innovation, production, and rule-making
  • Consume: How people acquire and use goods, services, and experiences - covering consumption patterns and exchange modes
  • Destroy: How people destroy value, resources, or norms - examining waste, violence, obsolescence, and system breakdown

When to Use VERGE Instead of STEEP

Use VERGE when:

Human-centered perspective needed: When your project requires understanding how change is experienced and enacted by people rather than analyzing external forces14

STEEP feels too abstract: When traditional macro-environmental categories feel disconnected from lived experience or too rigid for nuanced exploration35

Exploring agency and interaction: When you need to understand how people actively shape and respond to change rather than simply being acted upon by external forces36

Cross-domain analysis required: When investigating how changes cascade across different aspects of human experience and create interconnected effects27

Scenario development focus: When building scenarios that emphasize human behavior, social dynamics, and the ripple effects of change through human systems89

Continue using STEEP when:

Macro-level scanning needed: When conducting broad environmental scans of external drivers affecting organizations or systems13

Stakeholder familiarity required: When working with audiences comfortable with traditional business or policy analysis frameworks35

Regulatory/demographic focus: When specific external factors like legal changes or demographic shifts are central to your analysis13

The VERGE framework represents a shift toward more anthropocentric futures thinking, making it particularly valuable for organizations seeking to understand not just what might change, but how people will experience and shape that change23657.

⁂

  1. https://salman.io/notes/digital-gardens/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  2. https://thereadwellpodcast.com/blog/make-notes-in-a-digital-garden/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  3. https://refinedmind.co/digital-garden ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  4. https://brainsteam.co.uk/2022/04/03/03-04-digital-gardening/ ↩

  5. https://nesslabs.com/digital-garden-set-up ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  6. https://timrodenbroeker.de/digital-garden/ ↩ ↩2

  7. https://nickang.com/2021-08-29-types-of-notes-in-a-pkm-explained-with-a-gardening-analogy-part-i/ ↩ ↩2

  8. https://www.webdong.dev/en/post/blog-like-gardening/ ↩

  9. https://www.chadly.net/Digital-Gardening ↩

Linked References

Methods
A comprehensive overview of methods, frameworks, and tools in foresight and futures studies
STEEPLE
A seven-factor framework for macro-environmental analysis in strategic foresight

Note Graph

ESC