Podcast
Futures Hub
Hosted by Mia George · EN
Welcome to Futures Hub Podcast, where we explore the pathways to tomorrow. This podcast navigates the intersecting landscape of foresight, community engagement, and personal growth.
Each episode explores aspects of futures thinking, delving into foresight and systems techniques and discovering how these methods can both shape personal foresight capacity and contribute to community co-creation and meaningful decision-making.
Recognizing the power of information to empower individuals and communities, episodes dive into research to unearth valuable insights to help foster future-focused collaboration, inclusivity, and community building. Learn about engaging with communities, listen to their voices, and explore strategies for genuine community consultation. From youth to seniors, newcomers to minorities, everyone has a role in crafting a future where all belong.
Our commitment extends to the synergy of creativity and strategy, combining the art of foresight with tangible policy outcomes.
Join us on this exciting journey as we share insights, mine data, and discuss strategies to empower individuals and build resilient communities. Together, let's soften the impact of future shock, empower through information sharing, increase civic participation, enhance decision-making, and build community capacity.
The future is a canvas waiting to be painted. Welcome to Futures Hub Podcast, where we learn how to co-create the masterpiece of tomorrow.
10episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Not Goodbye, But See You Later: Three Takeaways from Three Years of Futures Hub Work
2w ago00:18:23Tap to summarizeAfter three years of conversations across five continents, this episode marks a turning point for the Futures Hub podcast. In this episode, we step back to explore the evolution of Futures Hub from an academic research question to a global podcast and experimental platform for futures thinking, co-creation, and community engagement. Three key takeaways are shared, learned through building Futures Hub as a living experiment: Why starting with personal reflection strengthens strategic alignment How experimentation helps embed futures thinking in organizations and communities Why designing for active involvement leads to deeper, more meaningful participation The episode also shares details from the Futures Room installation - a participatory foresight installation that brought these ideas to life. Along the way, Futures Hub Founder and Host Mia reflects on the real tensions behind this work and shares why this moment calls for a pause for Futures Hub, not an ending. Whether you've been along for the whole journey or are just discovering Futures Hub, this is an open invitation to keep imagining, keep co-creating, and keep working toward better futures together.
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The Future Is About Belonging: Navigating Uncertain Futures with amalia deloney of point A studio
Apr 1300:39:23Tap to summarizeIn this episode of the Futures Hub podcast, amalia deloney of point A studio explores how communities can move beyond abstract futures thinking and into meaningful, grounded action. Drawing on over two decades of experience across social justice, philanthropy, and community-based work, amalia shares a powerful perspective: people already carry visions of the future within them - the role of futures work is to create the conditions for those visions to surface and connect. amalia explores tensions shaping futures work today, including the pull between long-term vision and short-term constraints like funding cycles and strategic planning, and the gap between global challenges and local, community level action. amalia also shares practical tools from her working, including: a Civic Compass to help groups navigate uncertainty without rigid roadmaps a Futures of Belonging card deck, inspired by conversations about identity, place and community This conversation invites a deeper question: What happens when we treat futures work - not as a technical exercise - but as a collective, relational practice rooted in care? Whether you're working in foresight, community engagement, policy, or simply curious about what comes next, this episode offers a thoughtful and practical lens on how we can imagine and build futures together.
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VR & Ancestral Intelligence with KeepersXR's Lorna Okeng and Emmanuel Rukundo
Mar 200:37:57Tap to summarizeIn this episode of Futures Hub, we are joined by Lorna Okeng and Emmanuel Rukundo - the creative minds behind Keepers XR and the VR film Keepers of the Forest: The Batwa Legacy. Filmed in Uganda, Keepers of the Forest features the Batwa people - ancestral guardians of the Bwindi and Virunga mountain ranges, which is home to half of the world's mountain gorillas. Once evicted from their forest, the Batwa are now working to preserve their culture, identity, and environmental knowledge. Using virtual reality, Lorna and Emmanuel preserve knowledge systems and feature African futurist perspectives. During the episode, we explore: How emergent tech like VR can preserve cultural knowledge The importance of ancient ecological wisdom for climate resilience Co-creation with Indigenous communities AI (that is: "Ancestral intelligence") as a futures and design methodology Emotional reactions to immersive storytelling, including empowering youth through creative technology; and The landscape of African digital creativity and XR innovation This conversation bridges past, present, and future, showing how intangible heritage, oral traditions, and technology can create better futures. If you're passionate about foresight, XR, climate justice, innovation, or storytelling, this episode is a must-listen for you. Tune in to be inspired and imagine what becomes possible when the world honours its early storytellers and future protectors.
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From Policy to People: Julius Lindsay on Community-Centred Climate Action
Feb 500:36:00Tap to summarizeIn this episode of the Futures Hub podcast, we are joined by Julius Lindsay, climate strategist and futurist with over twenty years of experience working across municipalities, nonprofits, and national initiatives in Canada. Julius shares his approach to systems thinking and why his perspective on climate leadership has shifted over time from high-level policy to deeply local, community-based action. He explores why trust, context, and conversation matter more than control, and how climate work can move from telling people what to do to enabling communities to lead. The conversation also dives into the Prismatic Project - an initiative developing a futures-based game that helps communities imagine climate futures using Black and Indigenous worldviews. Julius explains how games and creative forms of engagement can lower barriers to participation and why involving voices beyond traditional "experts" leads to better outcomes. This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in climate action and reimagining public participation beyond traditional consultation. Whether you work in climate policy, local government, community organizing, or are simply curious about how we can plan for more inclusive futures, this conversation offers practical insights and a powerful reframing of what's possible.
Transcribe →Season 3 Launch: From Trends to Tensions - A Guided Personal Futures Practice
Jan 900:26:24Tap to summarizeFor our Season 3 launch, the Futures Hub podcast moves from naming trends to working with tensions. Rather than predicting what's next, this episode invites listeners into a personal futures practice designed to help make sense of the futures we're already living inside. Listeners are invited to hold one future they care about and move through a series of tools, guided by three core tensions impacting many futures today: moral urgency vs. material capacity forward motion vs. remembering individual vs. collective agency This episode adapts tools from management, foresight and systems thinking and offers them to listeners for private reflection, establishing a longer arc of shared sensemaking across the season. The episode is designed to be paused. It is best experienced slowly. Grab a paper and pen, or download the complementary Season 3 Tensions Map found in this episode's show notes as a companion for your experience.
Transcribe →Season 2 Finale: Insights to Build Flourishing Futures
Dec 200:19:00Tap to summarizeIn the Season 2 finale of Futures Hub, we reflect on the ideas, provocations, and insights that shaped our conversations this year with guests Jessica Thornton, Everton Lewis, Samantha Matters, Method Collective, Sarah Brin and Disha Arora. This wrap-up synthesizes the five cross-cutting themes that emerged across the season and traces how Season 2 emulated many of the trends captured at the beginning of the year. We also share highlights from the Futures Room - Futures Hub's immersive public installation - and offer a glimpse of what's ahead as we continue expanding futures thinking through the Futures Hub community being built. Whether you've been listening from the beginning or are tuning in for the first time, this episode offers inspiration and an invitation to imagine and co-create better futures together.
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Disha Arora of Faith Futures Collective on Gender Justice and Active Hope
Nov 300:34:15Tap to summarizeIn this episode of Futures Hub, listeners are joined by Disha Arora, founder of the Faith Futures Collective - a South Asia-based initiative amplifying women's perspectives in religion to promote gender justice. Disha shares how her journey from creating a documentary on women and religion in India to founding Faith Futures Collective revealed the risks, resilience, and transformative power of narrative change. Together, we explore: Why foresight and futures thinking are vital for reimagining faith. The obstacles women face in faith institutions and how creativity and safety strategies open space for change. How movements like the campaign around the Sabarimala temple spark wider conversations on equality. The practice of "active hope" as a way to keep moving forward in uncertain times. Why narrative power - who gets to tell the story - shapes the futures we build. Tune in to learn more about imagination, resilience, and the power of stories to transform centuries-old systems.
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Designing Immersive Futures: Sarah Brin on Creativity and Personal Agency
Oct 500:30:56Tap to summarizeWhat makes an experience truly immersive, and how can it help us imagine better futures? In this episode of Futures Hub, experience designer and creative strategist Sarah Brin joins us to explore the intersection of art, technology, and futures thinking. Drawing on her work with projects like Meow Wolf's Omega Mart, Sarah shares how playful, hands-on design can spark critical reflection on the systems that shape our lives. We dive into: How immersive experiences engage more than just our senses The power of creative R&D and "doing it bad" as a path to innovation How design can be used to spark reflections on personal agency; and Trends in art, entertainment, and technology that are shaping futures work Sarah's message is clear: futures work doesn't just belong to tech giants or elite institutions - it belongs to all of us. Whether you're an artist, futurist, or simply curious about where culture and creativity are headed, this episode will leave you inspired to experiment, play, and take action toward building a thriving world.
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Grief-Informed Futures and Life-Centered Design: Building Resilient Communities with Method Collective
Sep 800:44:00Tap to summarizeIn this episode, we speak with Method Collective, a team of interdisciplinary creatives working at the intersection of life-centered design, systems thinking, and strategic foresight. Together, we explore their groundbreaking initiative, Space for Grief, and their pioneering work in grief-informed futures - frameworks that acknowledge how loss shapes our collective imagination and possibilities. We dive into why grief needs dedicated public spaces, how collective memory influences societal change, and how designing for mutual benefit - across human and more-than-human worlds - is key to a resilient future. Along the way, the team shares practical insights on shifting from resilience to sustainability mindsets, navigating uncertainty with care, and weaving art, business, and community together. Whether you're a designer, futurist, changemaker, or community builder, this conversation offers moving, actionable reflections on how we might build more compassionate, interconnected futures for all.
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Resisting Urgency, Centering Care: Samantha Matters of Eras Foresight and Consulting on Purposeful Futures Change
Jul 700:45:54Tap to summarizeJoin us as we speak with Samantha Matters - Co-Founder and Principal Futurist of Eras Foresight and Consulting Corp - about practicing foresight with purpose and care. Samantha shares how her work is rooted in care, relationships, and responsiveness to complexity, and how Eras Foresight and Consulting Corp aims to do things differently from traditional consulting firms by working with clients to shape process together, rather than arriving at ready-made answers. Together, we unpack what it means to co-create futures in ways that are participatory, rooted in community, and mindful of long-term transformation. From reframing change management to navigating uncertainty with humility and curiosity, this conversation offers insights into more carefull ways of building the future.
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