What we do in the present is profoundly influenced by our aspirations, expectations, and our collective dreams. But what if our societal aspirations cannot be reconciled with the dream of a sustainable future? The annual Futuring for Sustainability Summer School begins with this question.
This year, we will zoom in on the tensions between accelerating transitions in energy, food, and lifestyles; the increasing call for global justice; and what is proving a highly effective backlash against these developments. How to navigate sustainability questions in an era of political backlash and democratic backsliding? And what can environmentalists learn from the ideological machinations of far-right and conservative movements? In this one-week Futuring for Sustainability summer school, these are central questions. We will address them using futuring, a novel approach to future-making pioneered by the Urban Futures Studio, and dramaturgy.
Sustainability is the defining challenge of the 21st century. It is clear that the way in which the world is organised today fails to safeguard a liveable future. What we do in the present is profoundly influenced by our aspirations, expectations, and our collective dreams. But what if our societal aspirations cannot be reconciled with the dream of a sustainable future? The annual Futuring for Sustainability Summer School begins with this question. How to navigate sustainability questions in an era of political backlash and democratic backsliding?
We are now amidst a new wave of populism, nativism, and environmental backsliding. The resistance to change is palpable. So deeply entrenched are our unsustainable aspirations that any attempt to question them is widely received as a threat to people’s freedom. The power of these aspirations raises an important question: are there perhaps lessons to learn from the far-right and conservatives about how to capture the future? Or must a genuinely just movement develop and share images of the future in a fundamentally different manner?
Drawing on the new book Captured Futures: Rethinking the Drama of Environmental Politics (Hajer & Oomen, out April 2025), we start from the analysis that our aspirations for the future have been captured by those with a vested interest in the status quo. Our inexorable slide away from democratic values is at least partially connected to these captured futures: can we still imagine our political system delivering in the 21st century?
From this analysis, we set out to find new connections between the scientific need for a sustainable future and the political search for belonging and comfort in uncertain times. In short, this year's edition of the annual Futuring for Sustainability Summer School asks: how can we build new images of the future? How can we open up pathways to a future that is sustainable, just, and democratic? And how can we bring as broad a constituency as possible with us?
Dr. Jeroen Oomen
Dr. Timothy Stacey
Prof. Dr. Maarten Hajer
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This course is aimed at graduate students from all disciplinary backgrounds, particularly advanced masters and doctoral students. We also consider Postdocs and practitioners who are interested in futuring and sustainability. We ask applicants send their motivation letter or, alternatively, another creative approach to express their interest in this course (e.g. slides, video, storyboard) and include their C.V.
Unlike most other Utrecht Summer Schools, the Futuring for Sustainability summer school does not strictly work with a ‘first come, first serve’ system. Periodically, we will select based on the received motivation letters and the curriculum vitae. You will receive confirmation as soon as your application is received. However, final decisions about acceptance may take longer, depending on the amount of applications we have to process. We encourage people to apply early, because we will start processing applications well before the final deadline on 1 April 2025.
Join us for an interactive course to learn to understand how futuring and dramaturgy contribute to realizing societal transformations towards sustainability: living well equitably within ecological means. Lecturers from various disciplines will introduce what they deem to be crucial insights and cultural tools for building a more sustainable future. In this summer school, the Urban Futures Studio and Pathways to Sustainability collaborate to connect technical and environmental questions around sustainability to social questions around equality, belonging, democracy, and popular backlash. Finding pathways to sustainable futures is a social and cultural challenge. Deeply held values connect to even the most high-tech solutions. Drawing on a wide variety of literature, this summer school offers the Urban Futures Studio approach to shaping visions for desirable sustainable futures. We offer our interpretation of how to give those visions a social life, our take on making them affect processes in the real world. Throughout the summer school, questions of democracy and politics will be a central focus: who shape sustainable futures and how do they do so?
The majority of the study load for the course will be in the week of the summer school itself. However, we will provide a reader with texts to engage with in advance.
For those doing their PhD or with limited funding, some scholarships or fee waivers/reductions may be available. Scholarships are allocated on the basis of 1) availability of funds 2) merit 3) match to the course 4) representing an under-included discipline, institution, or background. Please reach out to the course coordinators if you have any questions.
The housing costs do not include a Utrecht Summer School sleeping bag and/or pillow. These are separate products on the invoice. If you wish to bring your own bedding, please deselect or remove the sleeping bag from your order once you apply for this course.
For this course you are required to upload the following documents when applying: