Futures as a Practice
Reflections from the Aotearoa Futures Forum and the evolving practice of futures across Oceania
For much of my career I assumed futures work was about helping people imagine what comes next.
Today, I think it is something different.
It is about helping people practise the future together.
Over the past few years I’ve had the privilege of working alongside incredible practitioners across Aotearoa, Australia and the wider Pacific – researchers, futurists, Indigenous leaders, technologists, educators, governors, designers, community builders and policy makers.
Each gathering has explored different questions. Each has brought together different people.
Yet the same patterns continue to emerge.
Increasingly, futures practice appears less concerned with predicting tomorrow, and more concerned with cultivating the relationships, capabilities and stewardship that allow better futures to emerge.
That observation was reinforced during the Aotearoa Futures Forum 2026, where over sixty practitioners gathered in Ōtautahi to explore how we might collectively shape the future.
The conversations did not produce a single framework. Instead, they revealed something much more valuable.
They revealed a distinctive orientation.
From Frameworks to Practice
One of the strongest observations from the forum was that participants consistently moved beyond tools and methodologies.
Again and again conversations returned to people.
Relationships – Participation – Stewardship – Belonging – Care
Rather than asking simply:
What future do we want?
The conversations continually asked:
What are we being called to care for?
That subtle shift changes everything.
The future becomes less something we predict.
More something we practise.
Published Contributions
One of the strengths of the forum was that the conversations did not end when everyone went home.
Instead, many of the ideas have now been captured as published resources that others can continue building upon.
Among them are:
- Whiria te Muka Tangata – Dr Eruera Tarena’s keynote exploring an Indigenous framework for navigating complexity.
- Te Moana o Anamata: An Emerging Oceania Orientation to Futures Practice – documenting the collective observations from the Oceania Futures Ohu held following the forum.
- Navigating the Transitions: Futures Leadership at the Intersection of Complexity – reflections from the workshop I facilitated exploring how we learn to stand within uncertainty rather than attempting to eliminate it.
- Proceedings of the Aotearoa Futures Forum 2026 captured through Pūhau ana te rā, preserving the remarkable diversity of voices shared throughout the event.
- A growing collection of essays, reflections and futures experiments from contributors across Oceania.
Together these resources represent far more than conference proceedings.
They document an emerging body of practice.
An Oceania Orientation
Perhaps the most exciting outcome for me was the conversation that followed the forum.
A smaller group remained to explore a simple but profound question:
What makes Oceania futures practice distinctive?
Rather than beginning with prediction, our conversations consistently began with relationship.
Rather than separating the future from people, place and culture, they treated them as inseparable.
The emerging observation was beautifully simple:
Oceania does not appear to separate the future from the relationships that create it.
That insight continues to shape my own thinking.
Looking Ahead
I suspect we are only at the beginning.
Around the world, futures practice continues to evolve.
Here in Oceania, we have an opportunity to contribute something distinctive – not another methodology, but another way of practising.
One grounded in participation.
In stewardship.
In Indigenous knowledge.
In collective capability.
In relationships.
Because perhaps the future has never simply been something waiting for us.
Perhaps it has always been something we create together.
Growing the Kete
Further Reading – Published Resources
The conversations from the Aotearoa Futures Forum did not conclude when the event ended. A number of presentations, reflections and collective papers have since been published to enable others to continue building upon this work.
Event Overview
Whiria te Anamata: The Great Re-Weaving
A summary of the forum, reflections, speakers and outcomes from Ako Ōtautahi Learning City Christchurch.Keynote
Whiria te Muka Tangata: An Indigenous Framework for Tackling Complex Challenges
Dr Eruera Tarena’s keynote exploring an Indigenous approach to navigating complexity and weaving futures.Collective Paper
Te Moana o Anamata: An Emerging Oceania Orientation to Futures Practice
A collective reflection exploring what may distinguish futures practice across Oceania, developed from the Oceania Futures Ohu following the forum.
Workshop
Navigating the Transitions: Futures Leadership at the Intersection of Complexity
Elle Archer facilitates a workshop exploring how leaders navigate uncertainty through observation, participation and stewardship rather than control.
Proceedings
Pūhau ana te rā — Aotearoa Futures Forum Special Edition
Ray O’Brien’s collection of presentations and proceedings capturing the breadth of voices from the forum.
Essays
What If…? Essays
Dr Hafsa Ahmed’s collection of speculative essays exploring possible futures across education, business, work and society.
Forum Programme
The complete programme of presenters, workshops and lightning talks.