Future Soundings Engagement Activity
Future Soundings is a workshop and performance that uses science fiction storytelling and spatial sound to help participants imagine the futures they want for their place and brings it to life in the room. It can be used at early stages of planning processes, for community engagement, or as a way for organisations to imagine futures together.
".. profoundly impacted my perspective on what's possible. It is a beautiful tool which allows us to move beyond the confines of utopian and dystopian thinking, helping communities imagine and experience better futures together"
Zoe Rasbash (Climate Action Researcher, Watershed, UK)
How does it work?
The workshop begins with participants taking a walk through their local environment. A mobile app on their phone prompts them to imagine travelling forwards through time and asks them to describe what they want to see and hear in the places they pass. When they return, a science-fiction story, made collectively from the futures that participants have imagined, is performed live with an improvised spatial soundscape. As the sound fills the room, this possible world materialises around them.
Workshop and walk
Participants take a walk in their local environment. Using a simple browser based app on their phones they write responses to prompts that ask them to describe the futures they want.
Spatial Sound Performance
The participants contributions are collated by the team into a singular narrative. This is read out by a performer with an accompanying spatial soundtrack that combines environmental sounds and music to immerse the participants inside their imagined world.
Reflection and distribution
At the end of the session we run a reflective discussion and other optional activities (see below). The soundtrack can then be made available online via streaming platforms and maintained as an archive.
What's included in a session?
- Guided writing workshop tailored to the specific concerns of your project, organisation or community interests.
- Live spatial sound performance
- Shareable recording of the soundtrack.
Optional Extras
- Workshop for understanding agency
- Participatory sound recording workshop
- Backcasting workshop for developing next steps and action plans.
Case Studies
Regeneration of Filwood Broadway, South Bristol 2024-2025
Following a two-stage open tender run by Bristol City Council, Future Places Toolkit was part of a winning multi-disciplinary team lead by Architecture 00, including architect George Lovesmith and Studio Mothership.
Caerphilly Town 2035 – Festival of Ideas
As part of the Caerphilly Town 2035 project we were asked to deliver Future Places AR, engaging residents in imagining what they would like to see in 2035.