Co-creating Circular Futures Project
Climate crisis, species loss and waste in every corner of our planet: we are in a deep ecological crisis. Science shows what is needed to build a sustainable society: Reduce resource consumption, recycle materials, use solar energy. But how could everyday life actually work within these biophysical limits? How will we work? How will we get around? Science provides boundary conditions, but leaves many questions unanswered. At the same time, a vision of a desirable future is essential to trigger change.
Visions for a desirable future were developed in a collaborative design approach with school children from the gifted program together with scientists from Empa and implemented in a storybook entitled "Zukunfts(K)reise" ("Future Cycles, Future Journey") for a more sustainable, circular future. Together with the accompanying material, it is intended to contribute to the communication of science.
Research shows which planetary boundaries have been exceeded and what transitions are necessary to build a sustainable society. Research alone cannot answer how we want to live, move, exchange and work in the future. The decision-makers of tomorrow can contribute creative visions that are not restricted by old world views.
The research framework of sustainable material cycles developed at Empa in the SNSF project "Laboratory for Applied Circular Economy" formed the scientific basis for the co-creation. Using design thinking, visions created with the imagination of primary school children from Rorschach and Rorschacherberg were combined with the biophysical perspectives of scientists from Empa St. Gallen. The chosen collaborative approach gave the education experts and interns from the PHSG and the talented primary school children the opportunity to immerse in the most important scientific findings on the one hand and to work together on innovative ideas on the other. With their imagination and openness, the children were able to make a key contribution to imagine a future that is desirable for them.
The design thinking process is based on four main steps (discover, define, develop and evaluate), which determined the course of this project. The core of the co-creation were two half-days with Empa researchers (photo right). Prior to these joint workshops, the students had already spent 10 half-days immersed in topics relating to the environment, energy and sustainable cycles, when they played games, carried out experiments, received expert inputs, made a trip to Empa, invented theater scenes and each student sketched their vision of the future in a diary.
Examples from the diaries
Realistic ideas
Renewable energy (solar, wind, water); Space-saving mobility (2 levels underground)
Imaginative ideas
Flying car-ship; Meat trees
During the workshops, plans for a future city and four concrete stories were created, each of which draws attention to the crossing of at least one planetary boundary and points at possible circular solutions. These stories were integrated by a designer for the book "Zukunfts(K)reise" and supplemented by PHSG lecturers with the accompanying material for school lessons.
Insights into developing the first story:
Problem space: monoculture with excessive use of pesticides
Developing the storyline: bees lose their orientation, so that the swarm of bees scares a horse. Its rider falls to the ground. A bee apologizes and explains their problem with pesticides.
Solution space: biodiversity, renewable energy, vertical gardening
This story is concerned with the planetary boundary of biodiversity.
The stories
In small groups, the school children developed the basic outline or the four stories in the book "Zukunfts(K)reise". It contains four stories. These do not have to be read and treated in the order of appearance. It is possible to select just one story and read the specific commentary for teachers. The activities described for each story in the accompanying materials are ideas from which to choose.
- Earth family (story about the planetary boundary biodiversity and the circular strategies of integration and symbiosis)
- A living home (story on land use and biodiversity, as well as the circular strategy of reuse)
- Shared adventures (story on climate and the circular strategies of share and rethink)
- The dream of the water (story on nutrient cycles and pollution, as well as the circular strategies of recycling, repair, and clean up)
The 4 stories lead to a transformation picture, containing the ideas for solutions from the school children. In the stories themselves, the solution space was deliberately omitted to invite readers to think, discuss, imagine their own creative solutions.
The human imagination is a strength that we can all use.
Empa
PHSG
