Sustainable Future(s) Fiction

Matilde Igual Capdevila

The Sustainable Future(s) Fiction project seeks to understand the relationships between the institutionalisation of environmentalism and sustainability, the use of scientific models in order to forecast developments, the potential of fiction to visualise different, unpredictable futures and the architecture of decision-making centres. It also addresses the current dominant pessimistic perception of a catastrophic future.

Observing the fast-paced growing importance of sustainability in institutions (from a marginal movement to a main concern in the past fifty years), a near future is envisaged, 2050, in which a global governance system would be established, a world in which the priority would be sustainable development.

The process unfolds in three directions:

• Learning about the implied aspects mentioned above: the influence of fiction in sciences and politics, the history of sustainability, how do we approach policy-making, how do scientists use models, the architecture of international organisations and their boardrooms in particular?

• Visiting institutions in Vienna which deal with sustainability, establishing contacts through our collaboration partners at the dokNE (the Doctoral School of Sustainable Development) and drawing the plans of the offices and buildings.

• Imagining the envisaged fictional future and designing a boardroom for an invented institution, The S.U.N. (Sustainable United Nations). 

The presentation showcased the first steps of the field research, and some insights on the main topics.