We All are Europe - AESAEC

Module 2 – The Concept of Active European Citizenship and its Relevance for Senior Citizens
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2.4.1. The Future Workshop (Shortened version)
The Future Workshop (FW) method is not new. It was created in the 1970s by Robert Jungk, a German
born Austrian writer and journalist, together with some colleagues. It has been used in many
countries over the last decades as an appropriate tool for people willing to develop visions for addressing
real-life problems. Originally it was developed as a method to support the political struggles
of community groups for improved representation of their interests to create a better future
worth living for.
Basically, the Future Workshop can be divided into five phases:
1. The preparatory phase, which involves deciding on the topic and making some practical arrangements
(preparation of flip charts, papers, markers etc.)
2. The critique phase, during which all the negative experiences related to the chosen topic are
brought into the open. In the critique phase the problem is critically and thoroughly discussed
and investigated. Brainstorming is the preferred creative technique, followed by clustering
and structuring the ideas, thoughts, comments etc. into some main sub-themes.
3. The fantasy phase, in which the participants come up with ideas in response to the problems,
by expressing their desires, fantasies and alternative views. In the fantasy phase the participants
try to create a utopia, to draw an exaggerated picture of the future. Brainstorming and
other creative techniques might be used. The participants should make a selection of the
most interesting notions and develop these into a visionary paper.
4. The implementation phase. The workshop concludes with the implementation phase, in which
the ideas from the previous phase have been seen with more realistic eyes. The ideas are
checked and evaluated with regard to their practicability and a plan of action is drawn up.
5. In the follow-up phase the FW ends with an agreement on the elaboration of a report that
collects all the results gained and presents a completed action plan.
2.4.2. The Visionary Workshop
The Visionary Workshop (VW) consists of the Fantasy Phase and the Implementation Phase of the
Future Workshop. The problem with the FW in relation to training courses is that it can take too
long to go through all five phases. We therefore suggest focussing only on the FW’s most important
phases which are the Fantasy Phase and the Implementation Phase of the workshop; together they
are often called the Visionary Workshop.
1. The Fantasy Phase
Warming up: Before the participants start with their work it is advised to get them into a creative
mood, e.g. they could listen to some music of their choice, they could play some games or
they could use story telling as source of inspiration. Once everyone feels relaxed and comfortable
the actual working part of the Fantasy Phase can begin.
The work begins: In the Fantasy Phase the participants try to create positive pictures of the future
in relation to the subject which the future workshop is addressing, by questioning themselves:
How do we wish the future to be if it is not restricted by laws, economics, resources
etc The participants should suggest solutions, whilst ignoring these restrictions, such as: How
should life be for elderly people if the state has sufficient money to care for all citizens who
are not in the labour market How would it be to live in a society in which there is no discrimination
of older people How would the EU be if older citizens had much greater power
The participants have 10-15 minutes by themselves during which they should try to answer these
questions and create suggestions about how the future could be. When they have finished the
work, they should write their suggestions as headlines on a blackboard or flipchart. When all
have written their headlines each participant should explain what their suggestion refers to.
Very important: During this process there must not be any discussions!
After the presentation of the headlines the next key question is: Which headlines cover the
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