project team 

Renata Tyszczuk, Ashley Mason, Lena Dobrowolska, Emre Akbil (School of Architecture and Landscape); Jayne Carrick and Matthew Wood (Department of Politics and International Relations / South Yorkshire Sustainability Centre)

project summary &  operationalising the notion of the future

Climate ReAssemblies is working with South Yorkshire citizens and policymakers to create collective scenarios and collaboratively reconfigure citizen engagement with climate change policy. Key elements of the project for operationalising the notion of future include:

• rehearsing the future otherwise

• paying attention to the future in the present

• speculative and experimental storytelling practice

• collective improvisations

Climate ReAssemblies suggests ‘a provisional framework’ for ‘practices of scenario-making that attempt to open up possibilities for as-yet-unimagined futures’. Key elements of this framework include:

1. A Story Synopsis

2. Makeshift Props

3. A Timeframe 

4. Situation: characters, context, event

(Tyszczuk, ‘Collective Scenarios,’ Futures, 2021)

methods to project future(s)

Climate ReAssemblies is exploring how scenario-making, interactive storytelling and documentary methods can become tools through which to co-create participatory climate futures. 

An engagement with scenarios as rehearsal cautions against scripting operations driven by experts, and designers or researchers generating storylines that corroborate expectations, build consensus or involve pre-emptive curatorial and authorial processes. 

Instead, scenarios are considered as an anticipatory framework that can make room for working with a multiplicity of perspectives, generating multiple improvised what ifs, and accommodating cultural shifts and futures that are as yet unknown and uncertain. 

entanglements of justice in future(s) & design

Climate ReAssemblies utilizes scenario-building as an inclusive approach to decision-making in which participants justify their asks with reasons and listen to each other’s justifications respectfully and with an open mind. 

It involves carefully designed forums where a representative subset of the wider population come together to engage in open, inclusive, informed, and consequential discussions on one or more issues to promote just futures. 

The project’s processes and outcomes so far have been captured within an interactive documentary (iDoc), allowing for an active mode of storytelling and story-viewing focused on participation, agency, relationality and polyphony; or, ‘documentary as do-it with others citizenship’ (Rose, 2014). 

references:

• Tyszczuk, R. (2021). ‘Collective Scenarios: Speculative Improvisations for the Anthropocene’

Follow the link for more: Culture and Climate Change 

project team: 

Dr Katherine Easton (TUoS), Dr Richy Cook (TUoS), Dr Victoria Betton (Peopledotcom), Amy Salt (TUoS), Tom Bailey and Rob Pritchard (Mojo films), Simon Renshaw (Glossopdale School and Sixth Form)

project summary &  operationalising the notion of the future: 

Digital technologies are increasingly prevalent in formal education, driven by post-COVID-19 changes, efficiency goals, communication, and surveillance. Technology plays a key role in shaping education’s future (1), yet its impact on pupils’ social and emotional well-being remains underexplored (2). With UK students spending 35 hours a week in school, nearly 80% report worsening mental health due to school (3).

Participatory frameworks advocate for services designed by and for students, yet co-production processes in education lack consensus. Including students in conversations about technology use in schools can enhance connectedness, empowerment, and agency, making them feel heard and respected. Additionally, embedding a co-production model in lessons can develop communication, problem-solving, critical thinking, and collaboration—skills essential for future careers. 

Building on this perspective, this project aimed to actively involve students in shaping their digital education experience, ensuring their voices contribute to a more ethical, effective, and inclusive learning environment.

methods to project future(s)

To contribute to knowledge in this area, we explored two questions:

1. What is students' current understanding of IoT in their lives, both in and beyond school?

2. What utopian and dystopian technology use-cases would students envision if consulted?

Through two funded projects (UKRI eNurture, HEIF), we conducted workshops with 48 students (Years 7–9) across three secondary schools in Northwest England. Each two-day workshop ran over half a school day, with students working in small, rotating groups.

We developed interactive activities to stimulate discussion on IoT and digital futures. Using a citizen-science approach, students engaged with pre-workshop materials (fig 1), fact sheets, and guided questions. They reflected on daily technology use, envisioned future scenarios, and created comic-style storyboards depicting utopian and dystopian technology use-cases (fig 2,3). These methods encouraged critical thinking, creativity, and discussion on the role of IoT in education and beyond.

entanglements of justice in future(s) & design

Our research highlights students’ nuanced perspectives on justice in technology design, particularly in issues of autonomy, consent, and surveillance. They valued personalisation, efficiency, and security, appreciating how technology simplifies tasks and offers safety through location tracking. However, they were deeply concerned about data privacy, questioning, “Where is my data going?” and expressing a lack of control and consent over their digital footprint.

In schools, justice was entangled in their desire for transparent, continuous learning assessment, rather than reliance on high-stakes final exams. They advocated for fair access to learning resources and streamlined school routines. Conversely, they resented constant monitoring, viewing it as a sign of distrust from adults. They wanted the freedom to make mistakes, exercise agency, and learn through experience, rather than being forced into behavioural compliance. These insights highlight the critical need for co-design approaches that respect students’ rights, agency, and data autonomy. 

references:

• K. Facer and N. Selwyn, (2021). “Digital Technology and the Futures of Education: Towards ‘NonStupid’ Optimism,” UNESCO, p. 2. 

• GOV.UK, (2021). “Personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education”. 

• Newlove-Delgado, T., McManus, S., Sadler, K., Thandi, S., Vizard, T., Cartwright, C., Ford, T. & Mental Health of Children and Young People group (2021). Child mental health in England before and during the COVID-19 lockdown. Lancet Psychiatry, 8(5), pp. 353-354.