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THE EUROPEAN FUTURES OBSERVATORY |
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The London Futures Symposium 2 |
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On Wednesday 12th November 2008, thirty futurists and non-futurists from across Europe met at edexcel offices in Central London for a series of presentations to introduce the study of the future. The day spilt into two convenient halves.
In the morning session Stephen Aguilar-Millan of the European Futures Observatory, gave a presentation entitled ‘An Introduction To Future Studies’, which examined the breadth of the study of the future. Stephen outlined the broad categories of future study, along with the techniques that can be used to model the future.
Adam Gordon of the Future Studio followed with a presentation entitled ‘An Introduction To Scenarios’, which examined the different types of scenarios we are likely to encounter, their strengths and weaknesses, and how they might be constructed to deliver value to the participants
The afternoon session examined two different pieces of futures content. The first presentation, delivered by Trudy Barber of the University of Portsmouth, was entitled ‘The Future Of Gender, Media, and Identity’. It told us about how technology has enabled us to distort our concepts of gender and identity, and how deviant communities are often the pioneers of technology induced social change. The point of crossover, where deviant becomes mainstream, is the point at which commercial opportunities arise.
The second afternoon presentation, delivered by Francesca Birks of the Arup Group, was entitled ‘Eco-Resorts Of The Future’. It described a visioning and scenario building project that had been undertaken on behalf of a client, who was looking at developing eco-resorts in Africa. Francesca described the process of trending and scenario building in depth to provide a clear example of futures good practice.
The formal presentations were followed by a round table discussion about where the group might go next. The next meeting is scheduled for Wales, with a meeting in Yorkshire following that. In 2010 the meeting would be scheduled to venture abroad - in Lisbon and Berlin. These would take place in conjunction with the Europe Chapter of the World Future Society.
The momentum built up in London ought not to be lost. To maintain this momentum, a series of half day round table meetings are planned, with details to follow in the New Year.
All in all, we still feel that we have taken a good first step in creating a community of futurists in Europe and that we can establish a platform on which we can build in the months to come.
Stephen Aguilar-Millan Director of Research November 2008.
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© EUFO Limited 2008
EUFO Limited is a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee, incorporated in England.
Reg Number 4947883.
Registered office; 6 Greenways Close, Ipswich, Suffolk IP1 3RB, United Kingdom.
All rights reserved. |
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This meeting was made possible through the generous support of
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