As traditional approaches continue to fall short in addressing climate change, the need for alternative futures has become increasingly urgent. Including more-than-human or non-human perspectives in the futuring process opens new opportunities for deeper understanding and more sustainable solutions.
More-than-Human Perspectives for Long-term Impact
Incorporating more-than-human voices into futuring allows us to grasp the long-term, society-wide impacts of industrial exploitation of nature. By recognising nature as a stakeholder and using local knowledge, we can co-design better habitats that benefit all species, not just humans.
Moving Toward Multi-Species Inclusivity
There is growing recognition of the need to reconsider how organisations and society treat other species. A shift from human-centred design to a multi-species approach is essential. This inclusive perspective broadens our understanding of wellbeing to encompass all living beings.
As discussed in the article Beyond Anthropocentrism: A Call to Action for Multispecies Inclusivity more-than-human representation means acknowledging the voices of animals, plants, microbes, and other living entities as participants in the process. (source https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00076503241271254 ) by
Role-Play as a Tool for More-than-Human Representation
One common method for including these perspectives is through role-play, where human participants adopt the roles of non-human entities. This requires both knowledge and imagination to shift perspectives and experience the world through ‘the view of another.’ Various role-play workshops and tools have been developed to facilitate this process. However, it’s important to consider the responsibility involved in representing others, making thoughtful preparation and participant briefings crucial.
Exploring More-than-Human Futures in Urban Contexts
This summer I attended an excellent research symposium by Dr Sara Heitlinger at the City University of London about More-than-Human Futures in the context of cities.
It raised important questions and opportunities, such as:
- Colonialism of nature
- Animals as citizens
- Multi-species justice
- Cohabitation
- Bioregions
- Sensitising
- Good ancestors
- Stewardship
The symposium was organised together with the publication of Designing More-than-Human Smart Cities – Beyond Sustainability, Towards Cohabitation, co-edited by Sara Heitlinger, Marcus Foth and Rachel Clarke, and published by Oxford University Press. The book brings together the latest interdisciplinary research and insights on designing cities that go beyond human-centric approaches.
Non-Human Play Experiment
While creative problem-solving and critical thinking through play are well-recognized in childhood development, they are underused in professional settings.
Recently Dr. Anne Stenros and I facilitated an explorative virtual More-than-human workshop during The 24th International Futures Conference (University of Turku). During the workshop participants took different roles playing both human and Non-Human personas to create narratives that tackle future challenges.
The non-human personas are written as narratives or power stories with a philosophical input. These philosophical and metaphorical narratives activate our innate impulse to search for meaning. Stories have great power to unite because their themes are usually universal.
Based on the learnings from non-human personas and their narratives, we can imagine the superpowers that help us to overcome challenges, obstacles, and even crises in life.
Existing side-by-side in the scenario planning process, the humans and nonhumans create the full picture of the rewilding ecosystem and its actors in the more-than-human future. (Anne Stenros)
Key Learnings
Our workshop demonstrated that collective imagining can shift mindsets and break down the limitations of traditional thinking. Representing non-human perspectives is challenging, but reversing roles (e.g., seeing an animal as a teacher) sparks new conversations and understanding.
Narrative storytelling revealed unconventional, innovative ideas for overcoming complex challenges, highlighting the value of nature and the importance of small, impactful changes. Additionally, personal reflection on one’s relationship with nature fosters deeper learning and sparks new ways of thinking and acting.
Spark New Ways of Thinking and Doing
The game design supports interdisciplinary collaboration, the potential for novel business models, and the holistic integration of diverse perspectives.
Feel free to contact me to explore how incorporating human and non-human perspectives can expand imaginations and inspire alternative futures.
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