Posted: 21st April 2025

Future Narratives Workshops in Sweden

This spring, facilitators Abdirasheid and Deeq brought Future Narratives to Stockholm and Sollentuna. Across two very different spaces — a high‑school classroom and a neighbourhood youth lounge —t hey invited young people to imagine the world of 2050 and to weave personal stories that make that world reachable.

My and Our World 2025

Sixteen students aged 17–19 walked into their computer‑science lab expecting a lesson and found a time‑machine instead. Abdirasheid opened with a playful challenge: Write tomorrow’s headline today. Soon the whiteboard filled with newsflashes—“Solar Pavements Power the Metro”, “AI‑Guided Councils Slash Carbon 80 %”. Using Futures Literacy tools such as the future wheel, each group unpacked first‑ and second‑order effects of their headlines, then transformed insights into collages that pictured a climate‑smart, socially inclusive Stockholm.
What struck the facilitators was how rapidly strangers became co‑authors. Within thirty minutes, teams were merging storyboards and debating whether an inclusive city needs free coding bootcamps or citizen juries first. One student reflected, “I thought the future was scary. Now I feel part of building it.”

Letters to 2050

For the evening session, couches replaced desks and the glow of a projector lit up the question: Vad är en narrativ identitet? Deeq guided twenty‑one local youths (15–20 yrs) through mapping pivotal life moments onto personal timelines. From immigration journeys to first hackathons, each milestone fed into a handwritten letter addressed to their 50‑year‑old selves.
Reading excerpts aloud revealed common threads: leadership by connecting people, the urge to repair instead of replace, and a wish for neighbourhoods where public spaces feel like living rooms. By the end of the night, the group had outlined a podcast series—Letters to 2050—to continue the dialogue online.

Shared Lessons

• Visualising beats discussing – Collage and mapping unlocked twice as many concrete ideas as plenary talk.
• Mixed cohorts accelerate trust – School students and neighbourhood youths meshed in minutes once stories surfaced.

What Comes Next?

• Podcast pilot – Letters to 2050 (September 2025)
• Municipal show‑and‑tell – Youths pitch future‑city concepts to local planners (November 2025)

Every corner stores a story, and every story is a rehearsal for reality. From Stockholm classrooms to Sollentuna sofas, young people are redrawing the map of what feels possible, and inviting the rest of us to build there with them. Some participants first found it hard to picture tomorrow, yet by the end of the sessions many stood taller, realising that dreaming up alternative futures isn’t just helpful — it’s essential.