PSP — Sweden

Future workshop

The Future work­shop is a method devel­oped by Robert Jungk and and Nor­bert Müllert (1984) aim­ing at cre­at­ing a demo­c­ra­t­ic space where peo­ple, on their own premis­es and con­di­tions, can come togeth­er to col­lec­tive­ly influ­ence their sur­round­ings and their own lives. The method, which today is used in var­i­ous coun­tries includ­ing Swe­den and Den­mark, thus offers a space where par­tic­i­pants with dif­fer­ent inter­ests, expe­ri­ences and val­ues meet to dis­cuss and plan actions for change.

The Future work­shops under­ly­ing ideas and views are by Den­vall and Salo­nen (2000) crys­tal­lized into six dimen­sions that form an ide­o­log­i­cal basis for devel­op­men­tal and change work:

• The view of the human being is based on a belief in peo­ple’s abil­i­ty to think, cre­ate and take respon­si­bil­i­ty for their lives and their surroundings.
• The view on human devel­op­ment is that it is not pos­si­ble to rely on estab­lished solu­tions, and there­fore peo­ple and soci­eties need cre­ativ­i­ty and courage to try new solutions.
• The view on col­lec­tive cre­ation is that insights and actions are cre­at­ed in con­fronta­tions and encoun­ters with oth­er people.
• The view on the inter­play between crit­i­cism and vision, it is in the inter­face of resis­tance, dreams, and ideas about the future that inno­va­tion and change becomes possible.
• The view of democ­ra­cy is that demo­c­ra­t­ic devel­op­ment pre­sup­pos­es new forms of joint deci­sions in line with soci­etal changes.
• The view of the future is that there is an abil­i­ty in human being to choose paths and for­mu­late future images and strategies.

The Future work­shop offers first and fore­most an are­na for pro­mot­ing action and change, based on a struc­tured process that com­bines ratio­nal and log­i­cal analy­sis with cre­ativ­i­ty (Den­vall och Salo­nen 2000:30). Apply­ing the method in a research con­text is some­what dif­fer­ent from this approach. How­ev­er, as for the urban method “Upturned par­tic­i­pa­tion”, the Future work­shop offers the pos­si­bil­i­ty for actions researchers to sys­tem­at­i­cal­ly inves­ti­gate and ana­lyze how changes can be cre­at­ed when draw­ing on par­tic­i­pants own cri­tique, visions, and solu­tions. In this way knowl­edge about social and soci­etal devel­op­ment can be created.