Our Purpose

We exist to expand futures literacy through design-led practice — helping professionals, students, and institutions develop the imagination, tools, and ethical grounding needed to navigate rapid technological, social, and environmental change.

We believe the future is not something to predict.
It is something to design, question, and co-create.

Our Organization

Speculative Futures is a hybrid organization — combining:

• A global, open community of practitioners and enthusiasts

• A distributed network of locally-led chapters

• A shared institutional platform for learning, research, and public engagement

Our structure enables both:

• Global coherence through shared values, branding, and principles

• Local relevance through regionally-led chapters responding to their own cultural, social, and economic contexts

Our Community

Our community brings together:

• Designers, researchers, technologists, and strategists

• Artists, storytellers, and educators

• Students, entrepreneurs, policymakers, and future-curious professionals

We are united by a shared commitment to responsible speculation and design-led futures practice.

Our Principles

Design as a Futures Practice

We use design as a way of thinking, making, prototyping, and storytelling about possible futures.

Plural Futures

We explore many futures — not a single dominant narrative. We resist ideas of inevitability and technological determinism.

Ethical Imagination

We consider the social, political, and ecological consequences of the futures we create.

Open Futures Literacy

We believe futures literacy should be participatory, accessible, and shared.

Local Agency, Global Alignment

Chapters operate with autonomy while contributing to a shared global mission and identity.

What We Do

Across our global chapters and platform, we create:

• Public talks, salons, and exhibitions

• Workshops, studios, and learning programs

• Speculative design projects and future scenarios

• Community experiments and collaborations

• Research, publishing, and cultural programming

Our outputs are not predictions. They are tools for thinking, dialogue, and action.

Chapter Leadership & Stewardship

Speculative Futures chapters are the heart of our organization.

Each chapter is led by local stewards who:

• Build and grow their regional design futures community

• Deliver a minimum of 2–4 public events per year

• Curate programming aligned with our mission and principles

• Represent Speculative Futures locally and globally

• Operate within shared global branding and identity

Chapter Leads are both community builders and cultural ambassadors. They are supported by:

• A global framework and operating model

• Shared resources and playbooks

• A peer network of chapter leaders worldwide

Leadership is a practice of care, inclusion, and long-term responsibility.

Community Conduct

We are committed to creating a community that is:

• Inclusive and welcoming

• Curious and respectful

• Critical without being cynical

• Ambitious without being extractive

We value disagreement, debate, and difference. We reject dominance, exclusion, and exploitation.

Our Commitment

By participating in Speculative Futures — as a member, collaborator, or chapter lead — you commit to:

• Advancing design futures practice

• Expanding futures literacy in your community

• Practicing ethical and responsible speculation

• Contributing to collective learning

• Supporting the long-term growth of the global network