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 ↩

Notes mentioning this note

Methods
A comprehensive overview of methods, frameworks, and tools in foresight and futures studies
Index
Complete Index of Notes

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AI and science fictionAI, future imaginaries, and futures studiesArtificial IntelligenceAnti-Dystopia – A Third Way Between Utopia and...ApproachDr. Armin GrunwaldArticle - Future FailArticle – Future of Terranascient Futures Studies...Article - Futures from RuinsArticles on FuturesArtificial general intelligence (agi)Artificial Intelligence and future imaginariesArticle – Beyond Capitalist RealismThe Blue Ant TrilogyBooks on FuturesCLA GameCausal layered analysis (cla)Characteristics of Future ImaginariesCollective MemoryCommon SenseComparable and related approachesComparison of national AI strategiesComponents of Future ImaginariesConceptual challenges and inconsistenciesConclusionCondensation of Future ImaginariesCritical Futures StudiesCultural UndercurrentsCyberpunkDates and eventsDifferentiation from similar termsDigital GardenEarly Approaches to ImaginariesEffect of performativity on future imaginariesFictional Expectations from BeckertFred PolakPaper – From Critique to Cultural RecoveryFuture Imaginaries from CookFuture Imaginaries from Goode and GodheFuture ScenarioFutures StudiesFutures terminologyFutures TriangleFuturesGlobal business networkGoalsImages of the Future from InayatullahImaginaries from Lockton and CandyImaginaries from an anthropological perspectiveImaginariesInteresting Questions in Futures Studies &...IntroductionIntroductions to Futures Thinking & ForesightJargon WatchKey questions in critical futures studiesLeitbildLiterature on Critical Futures StudiesLongtermismMaster's Thesis – Future ImaginariesMeaning-Making and AIMegatrendsMetamodernism and Futures StudiesMetamodernismMetaphorMethodsMinimum group size for (future) imaginariesMythNele fischer on critical futures studiesNo future is neutralNo such thing as “future-proof”Observations from the examination of futures and...Official futureOutlook – Application of future imaginariesOverton WindowPattern recognitionPolak GamePresent futures from GrunwaldPrimerPull of the FutureQuestions for the Start of a Foresight ProjectRationalistsReal UtopiasResearch QuestionsRoles of Future ImaginariesSarkar gameSituating the ResearcherSocial ImaginariesSociotechnical Imaginaries from JasanoffSohail InayatullahTescrealThe Difference between Present Futures and Future...Book – The Image of the FutureThe JackpotThe network stateThe Role of Futures in CapitalismThe distinction between imaginaries and future...The paradox of foresightThe vagueness of future imaginariesThinkers on futuresFuture NotesTools for the examination of future imaginariesTowards a definition of Future ImaginariesTraining Practice for FuturistsSorry, but this is not a trend reportTrendsUtopia as Method and Metamodernism: A SynthesisUtopia as MethodUtopiaVerge frameworkVisionWhat good is scientific rigor when nobody gives a...William GibsonMethod: WindtunnelingWorldbuildingCritical FuturesFuture ImaginariesIndex