“I came to this event not really thinking I was a ‘democracy person,’ but I left realizing that I am a civic futurist.”

Liz Gerber, Founder of Design for America 

The Future’s Happening was so much more than a single event. It was a field-building springboard that paved the way (by design) for reframing our roles and capabilities as “civic futurists” imagining the future of democracy in community-centered and co-creative ways. Grounded in bright spots of today, we aimed to create and empower bold possibilities for a better tomorrow. 

Beyond any one determined outcome, The Future’s Happening emphasized building futurists and new futures in applied and experiential ways. The experience focused on fostering mindsets of curiosity, discovery, and exploration required to imagine more expansive futures, and the practices of experimentation to make our preferred futures a reality. 

From the first moments of walking into the d.school, invited participants saw and experienced civic bright spots in motion. The Future’s Happening branding was bright, welcoming, and inviting. The d.school atrium was turned into a welcoming exhibit furnished with art, prints, artifacts, and resources curated to prompt ongoing engagement and conversation. The space was transformed into a “civic imagineer gallery” featuring designed posters of nonpartisan innovative civic organizations and movements focused on human-centered, collaborative approaches to building stronger, pluralistic, participatory civic futures. 

This type of integrated, embodied, and experiential futures work models design’s role in spurring grounded hope and possibility, even when context is complex and the path ahead is unclear.