A methodology for the stories that shape us
Future Narratives is a framework for narrative literacy — the capacity to understand, critically engage with, and consciously author the stories that shape individual lives, communities, and collective futures.
It was conceived and developed by Nerina Finetto, founder and director of Traces&Dreams, first presented at the World Forum for Women in Science in February 2020, and refined through two successive Erasmus+ projects between 2020 and 2025. The framework is grounded in UNESCO’s concept of Futures Literacy and in decades of research in narrative psychology, community narrative, and cultural studies.
The four levels of narrative literacy
Personal storytelling
The stories we tell about ourselves — about where we come from, what has shaped us, and who we are becoming — don’t simply record our lives. They constitute them. Personal narrative literacy is the capacity to recognise yourself as the author of your own life story, and to understand how and why you can rewrite it.
Community narratives
Communities are held together by the stories they share. Community narrative literacy is the capacity to recognise the stories that define belonging, to hear whose voices are missing, and to participate in the construction of community stories that are inclusive and open to the future.
Societal narratives and myths
Some stories operate so deeply in culture that they no longer appear as stories at all. They are the stories we have created ourselves and now see as natural. Societal narrative literacy is the capacity to see through this naturalisation: to recognise the cultural frames that govern what feels possible, and to understand that they are constructed and therefore revisable.
Futures Literacy
The future is not something that happens to us. It is a cognitive resource we use right now to make decisions, to imagine alternatives, and to understand the present differently. Futures literacy — developed within the UNESCO framework — is the capacity to use the future consciously and creatively.
The methodology in practice
The Future Narratives approach brings these four levels together as a structured pathway rather than a set of standalone activities. Each level builds on the last — from personal story, through community and societal narratives, to imagining genuinely different futures, and finally to sharing those futures with others. This sequence is what gives the work its coherence: participants analyse narratives, author and re-author them, and create new stories to share.
The Future Narratives Curriculum is available in the Knowledge Hub, as are the context for our approach to youth work and a guide to our innovative pathway.
The community in practice
Future Narratives is now a living community of practitioners, researchers, educators, and organisations across Europe and beyond who apply, adapt, and extend the methodology in their own contexts. It is coordinated by Traces&Dreams and open to anyone committed to building narrative literacy as a competency for democratic participation, personal empowerment, and social change.
Using the Future Narratives methodology
The Future Narratives Curriculum, guides, and resources are freely available for use in educational, youth work, community, and research contexts. We warmly encourage practitioners and organisations to apply and adapt the methodology in their own work.
We ask only one thing in return: that when you use the Future Narratives methodology, you credit its origin. Please acknowledge Traces&Dreams as the developers of the methodology in any publication, presentation, training material, or public communication where the framework is applied.
Suggested attribution: Future Narratives Framework — developed by Nerina Finetto as founder and director of Traces&Dreams (tracesdreams.com / futurenarratives.eu), co-tested across Europe through two Erasmus+ projects (2020–2022 and 2023–2025).
The Erasmus+ Partnership
The Future Narratives methodology was developed by Traces&Dreams and co-tested and co-developed in the field by partner organisations who brought the framework to life in their national contexts across four countries:
Traces&Dreams is a Sweden-based company specialised in storytelling, narrative, content creation, visual communication and distribution. The Traces&Dreams project aims to improve the dissemination of scientific and humanistic knowledge at an international level, addressed in particular to a non-specialist audience.
Euro Project Lab Srls is a consulting company for strategic development, planning, management and reporting, training on the direct funds of the European Union, with particular reference to the culture, education and training sector. It is the Italian headquarters in Milan of EuAbout Lab ASBL, a non-profit association based in Brussels.
The Federación Andalucía Acoge is a Non Profit Social Entity sited in the South of Spain (Andalusia Region) and the City of Ceuta and Melilla (at the North of Morocco). The organisation with national and international scope was founded twenty-five years ago aiming to guarantee rights and security for immigrant people in Spain.
Inter Alia (IA) is a not-for-profit private organisation & think-tank, established in March 2013 in Athens, Greece. Inter Alia’s central aim is raising the awareness of EU citizens on available channels for acting, participating & shaping Europe.
Machart GbR was founded in 1999 with the idea to professionalise social work and to improve the interaction between different people in a playful way. The approach to design and learn through experience pervades the philosophy of Machart.
Möjligheternas Plats was founded as a non-profit organisation of enthusiasts from Sollentuna (Sweden) in 2013 and now has a leading position in Stockholm in youth oriented programs.