Our work starts from the recognition that the transition to sustainability represents a historic opportunity to reshape our societies.
Our belief is that the futures of society must be given shape by those who will inhabit them: the public.
Our programs therefore aim to include those who are otherwise excluded, expedite and democratise the transition to sustainability, and give people of all ages renewed faith in the potential for the future to be far better than the present.
To achieve this, we use, among other things, Futures Workshops: a method that combines criticism, creativity and practical planning in a way that allows anyone to identify current problems, dream up visions of futures, and make plans for how to get from here(s) to there(s).
Read more about our digital and physical workshops and what we offer here.
Why Fremtenkt? Because the future is created here and now, from the bottom up.
The Future Workshop is a method, as the originator Robert Jungk put it, for awakening the imagination as an antidote to resignation.
The method allows people with diverse backgrounds, motivations, and levels of self-assurance to contribute their criticism of the status quo, and their hopes for the future, drawing on their own experiences and competencies.
The workshop follows simple, democratic rules, establishing a space in which the participants decide what happens. By anticipating, in miniature, a truly democratic society, the workshop also allows participants to rehearse the role of active citizens helping shape the future of the wider society—whether it be through their work, their participation in civil society, or a combination.
The three phases of the workshop—criticism, utopia, actualisation—unleash an unfiltered critique of what is wrong today, generate imaginative images of how good the future might be, and make realistic plans for realising these visions.
The Future Workshop goes contains three phases:
Which provide three, distinct results:
The Future Workshop provides practical training in active citizenship, and contributes to creating a more Futures Literate 1 citizenry equipped to work together to achieve the transformation of our societies into ones that are environmentally, socially and economically sustainable.
Fremtenkt are currently developing digital, online versions of Jungk and Müllert's original method, in part to take advantage of contemporary digital tools and the opportunities they offer for collaboration regardless of geographical location.
We have already hosted workshops using this method with participants from multiple continents, and are in talks with several European networks of Future Workshop practitioners on collaborations to develop, spread and test digital versions of the Future Workshop.
Anyone can be fremtenkt 2. But for now, it’s the two of us:
Ragnhild has an MA in comparative literature from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and Sorbonne, as well as a diploma from Skrivekunstakademiet in Hordaland. Her experience includes work as head of outreach and project manager at the Olav H. Hauge Centre for Poetry.
Ragnhild also has experience as a teacher and a special needs teacher.
Sveinung has a BA in chemistry and an MA in philosophy from NTNU and Universität Leipzig. He defended his PhD dissertation in philosophy (How to be a good sentimentalist) in October 2019 at the University of Bergen.
Sveinung’s experience includes teaching, tutoring and lecturing at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences and University of Bergen. He has also taught classes in elementary school and high school, and has worked in geriatric care.
Get in touch at post@fremtenkt.no
