Abstract
We need new methods for generating policy insights that ensure people's lived experiences are not flattened and fixed to a moment in time and that visions of possible futures are not curtailed by a 'crisis of imagination'. In response to this challenge, we have developed a creative, play-based method called the Tomorrow Party, which invites participants to travel forward in time and share co-created stories of the desirable futures they find themselves living in. As a future story-making process, the Tomorrow Party generates novel ways of sharing affective perspectives on possible futures so we can collectively anticipate what is at stake and work out what policy responses would contribute to the futures we want. We present the method as well as key findings and insights from a series of Tomorrow Parties commissioned by the Policy Lab at the Wellcome Trust, spanning locations across Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
Keywords
play; futures; lived experience; policymaking
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2024.714
Citation
Korsmeyer, H., Grocott, L., Sumartojo, S., Doughty, M., and Mintrom, M. (2024) Transforming futures together: time travelling with the Tomorrow Party, in Gray, C., Ciliotta Chehade, E., Hekkert, P., Forlano, L., Ciuccarelli, P., Lloyd, P. (eds.), DRS2024: Boston, 23–28 June, Boston, USA. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2024.714
Creative Commons License
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Conference Track
Research Paper
Included in
Transforming futures together: time travelling with the Tomorrow Party
We need new methods for generating policy insights that ensure people's lived experiences are not flattened and fixed to a moment in time and that visions of possible futures are not curtailed by a 'crisis of imagination'. In response to this challenge, we have developed a creative, play-based method called the Tomorrow Party, which invites participants to travel forward in time and share co-created stories of the desirable futures they find themselves living in. As a future story-making process, the Tomorrow Party generates novel ways of sharing affective perspectives on possible futures so we can collectively anticipate what is at stake and work out what policy responses would contribute to the futures we want. We present the method as well as key findings and insights from a series of Tomorrow Parties commissioned by the Policy Lab at the Wellcome Trust, spanning locations across Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.