Bringing Futures to Life Through Design

• Utgivningsdatum: 2027-01-25
• Mått: 156 x 234 x undefined mm
• Format: Inbunden
• Språk: Engelska
• Serie: Routledge Research in Anticipation and Futures
• Antal sidor: 288
• Förlag: Taylor & Francis Ltd
• ISBN: 9781041258254

• Designböcker
• Affärsutveckling

Adam Cowart is a professor of foresight at the University of Houston and a futures and design practitioner. He holds a BFA and MFA in creative writing from the University of British Columbia, an MBA from Simon Fraser University, an MSc in foresight from the University of Houston, and holds a PhD in Transition Design from Carnegie Mellon University.

"How to make the future matter to the decisions we make today? One approach is to turn abstract futures into tangible things--to touch, smell, taste, and feel alternatives in your bones. This practice, experiential futures, has grown in sophistication and reach over the last 20 years. Bringing Futures to Life Through Design is a significant contribution that brings depth, insight, and actionable knowledge that will inform those that are new to the subject, as well as those already working in the field. Experiential futures matters in improving social foresight in the present, and this book matters to the practice of experiential futures."Jake Dunagan, Ph.D. Director, Gov Futures Lab, Institute for the Future, USA.“Adam Cowart’s brilliant book builds a much-needed bridge between thinking about the future and bringing it to life. He moves us beyond the artifact and into the 'encounter,' a space where the future becomes a felt experience. Drawing from a deep well of civilizational perspectives – Western, Sufi, Māori and more – Cowart presents us with a fundamental choice: do we use the future to reaffirm the politics of power or to transform our world through an ecology of care? This work is essential for anyone committed to not just imagining, but actively building, a more hopeful tomorrow.”Sohail Inayatullah, UNESCO Chair in Futures Studies, Sejahtera Centre for Sustainability and Humanity, Professor, Tamkang University, Taiwan, Editor, Journal of Futures Studies.“In Shakespearean spirit, futurist Cowart reinterprets how we can experience all the world as a stage, and all the men and women as players. Cowart skillfully leads us through a series of studios to stage encounters with various futures. Unlike Shakespeare’s outlines of seven roles a person plays from birth to death, Cowart deftly draws us out of that typical narrative to explore alternative forms of storytelling. Through his careful dissection of speculative design, Cowart propels the readers towards hopeful futures. He postures the readers towards a framework of care instead of mere constraints that paralyzes the future imaginaries. He is constantly turning the abstract into action. Cowart’s thoughtful exposition of meaningful future encounters should be celebrated, and more importantly, enjoyed.”Design Futurist and Associate Professor Jawn Lim.“This book holds a very special place in my futures studies heart. Not only because it is from one of the most intriguing and provocative minds in the field of strategic foresight, but moreover because it champions an approach that does not, in my opinion, receive the attention it deserves- not just that it deserves, but that it is essential to best-in-class foresight practices. The book finely harmonizes the necessary balance between science and magic. It wraps the necessary linear approaches in a velvet skin of playing out, or as Adam reinforces, living through design, imagination, stories, and experiential, even experimental simulations of speculative future worlds. The book does so in a way that our sensory radar helps us construct visions of the future real-world landscapes Adam discusses.For me, foresight is about working with unstructured knowledge in unknown worlds – free from restraint. Adam’s structure amplifies his open renegade mindset. It flows through his writing, his overall approach to design, and the way he brings to life not just his prototyping, but also his illustration of the methodologies, techniques and tools in his design toolkit. They themselves seem to be alive and free to roam through fields of abstraction and rich imagination, inspired to remix, reconceptualize and recontextualize the deeper structures, perspectives and elements that fuel our initial future visions, or as Adam refers to them, future Imaginaries. Adam’s book and his professionalism embrace the criticalities needed to embody radical, transformative change at a time and in a profession that demands courage and wisdom.” Dr Derek Woodgate, President and Chief Futurist, The Futures Lab, Inc. Professor and Author of Future Frequencies (2004), Future Flow (2013 and 2024), The Augmented Learner (2022) and The Unreality Studio (2026).

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