Visiting the Future – Seeing the World through a Different Lens

The official start of the program began with a short card game explained to us by DDC member Oskar Stockholm. He introduced DDC’s future design practices and gave us the opportunity to experience the way they work first hand. Everyone was asked to draw three cards. In 5 minutes, we had to come up with a vision of the future according to the given words on the cards. This activity sparked laughter, creativity, and a free flow of ideas.

Then, Oskar presented the values, missions and approaches of the Danish Design Center, which is very much focused on inspiring the imagination of better versions of the future. It is not about predicting the future but about expanding our minds and options we can envision by asking the question: What is the preferred future we want?

Touring the city

Before heading out to explore the city, we got some homework for the next two days that motivated us to keep our eyes and ears pealed for little signals of change. The task: What are little aspects or details you encounter in Copenhagen that could inspire change in your own country?

The warm sunshine accompanied us on our tour with historian Christian Holm Donatzky as we embarked on an insightful city walk from DDC to Freetown Christiania. On the walking tour we learned a lot about the city and history of Denmark and had time to discuss the unique development of the Danish society. The years of 1813/1814 stood out as an important turning point as Denmark faced bankruptcy. In the following years many schools were built, and the school systems underwent great changes. The central figure in the school reform of 1850 was the then Minister of Education, Johan Nicolai Madvig, who remained the Danish Inspector of Schools until 1879. This crucial change of prioritizing education was the key to Denmark's future. He had the vision to look beyond the short term to invest in a public good that is still the foundation of Denmark’s education system to this day. This was arguably one of Denmark's first social innovations that left a lasting long-term impact.

Exploring Christiania

Our first stop at Christiania was Spiselöppen, a restaurant that’s been run as a collective since 1983. As we had our coffee break, we took some time to reflect on what we learned so far. Shortly after, we were picked up by a resident of Christiania who took us on a walk around the Freetown and shared what life is like in such a unique place. We learned from our guide that about 700 adults and 200 children live in Christiania, which was founded in September 1971. Since July 2012, the foundation Fristaden Christiania owns approximately 7.3 hectares, while the state still owns the rest. She talked about everyday life in Christiania, its internal systems and explained the difficulties and struggles that exist within the community as well as the challenges that the community faces with the government. Three interesting facts about Christiania:

1. 1. There are no street names. When you give directions, you get a description, for example “Person X lives near the pink house” or “You can find Anna’s place between Inga’s house and the kindergarten”.
2. 2. They have a paddock, a bike company called Christiana Cykler, a Kindergarten and they brew their own beer.
3. 3. The area of Christiania is about 320.000 m² which includes a lake that is called “ocean” by the people of Christiania.

During dinner at the restaurant Nemoland, we had more time to exchange our impressions and thoughts on this example of radical democracy, the problems they face and ways to find a solution. One current issue is the state’s plan to build public housing within Christiania. Most people of Christiania appear to be opposed to this idea. A discussion to find the best solution for both parties seems to be a difficult undertaking due to the historical development of Christiania where any government interference is always objected. Some of us were convinced that an open and productive conversation could lead to an innovative solution to implement new housing ideas.

Day 2

Still blessed with beautiful weather, our second day began at Demokrati Garage. Founded on the belief that democracy is about participation, this space is a meeting place for the neighbourhood and serves as a hub for participation. Whilst the garage buildings were formerly a blacksmith and a car workshop, they are now a workshop space to replace, repair and upgrade democracy's central steering bolts and timing belts. They experiment with new forms of democracy and help more people have greater influence on their own lives and the society that they are a part of. They kept the definition of their space a garage because they work on the premise that the future's big development ideas and radical solutions call for a joint development garage. We got to experience Demokrati Garage as a buzzing and lively space for professional and personal life.

In the spacious room „Folkestuen“ (the community room), we held a morning wisdom session where we reflected on the day before. One insight that was shared within the group was a reflection on the source and origin of change. A quote summed it up:

“No one changes unless they want to. Not if you beg them. Not if you shame them. Not if you use reason, emotion, or tough love. There’s only one thing that makes someone change: their own realization that they need to do it. And there’s only one time it will happen: when they decide they’re ready.” - Lori Deschene

In the late morning, we were visited by Uffe Elbæk, former Minister of Culture, founder and leader of the green political party ‘The Alternative’ and former principal. He also introduced himself as a father, grandfather, gay man, writer, marathon runner and former journalist who loves music and art. On his business card he would describe himself as senior troublemaker and solution finder. He shared the best advice he has ever received on how to deal with failure. First, identify the failure; second, take responsibility for it; third, learn from it and fourth, act differently in the future. When asked what he wants to change, he replied: “I just want to live the good life.” A good life for him means interesting things, good people and no small talk.

We discussed the definition of entrepreneurs and from his experience he shared that the best entrepreneurs he met in his life were “outsiders with a good work discipline”. Introducing the concept of seven archetypes of innovators, he asked us to pick just one out of seven archetypes that we could identify most with. No one in the group identified as a “businessman”. He gave us the advice that every entrepreneurial group always needs at least one person of the businessman archetype to succeed.

Clara Dawe from the Akademiet for Social Innovation who moderated the conversation then brought us to his political work. He shared his experiences as the head of the youth organisation Frontløberne (The Frontrunners) in Aarhus and his work at the KaosPilots. Through this talk, we got to meet a man who is passionate about life and driven by the belief that we can do better as a society.

After a delicious lunch we had time to explore the city on our own with three suggested routes depending on our interests. The “scenic tour” brought us to see some buildings of significance and beautiful landmarks such as the Rosenborg Castle.

Visiting the Future

After our city walk, we returned to the Danish Design Center, where we were welcomed by Kimmie Tentschert, member of the DDC team. Through one example of their design future practices, Kimmie took us on a journey to the future. We were invited to explore Vorby, a village in the year of 2050, learn about their principles and meet their residents to understand what life is like in this future scenario. In small groups, we were asked to think of one future statement like “A future where only kids can vote.” Given a future map, each group had to come up with different consequences of what that future entailed, e.g. “Kids feel pressured or intimidated by adults.“ or “Kids make clever decisions for animal and nature rights.” An imaginative flow set in and we explored how this future scenario could unfold.

In a short period of time, we experienced what it is like to work with future scenarios. In the end, we used backcasting which poses the question of what we learned “in the future” that we can take back to the present in order to find positive ideas to act upon in the present. This is a powerful way to inspire positive approaches to dealing with challenges today that currently overwhelm us and almost seem impossible to tackle. This approach showed us the force of imagination and creativity that serve us with new perspectives and stimulating ideas for a better future.

Ending on a high note

These two inspiring days were full of great conversations, interesting facts, innovative approaches and laughter. Completing this visit, we ended the second day with a joint dinner. Our Danish colleagues prepared innovative lyrics to the melody of the “Yellow Submarine” song that we sang together – a fun closing of this insightful trip where we deepened our relationships and got a better understanding of the development and status quo of social innovation in Denmark.

The study visit took place from April 19 to 20, 2023, in Copenhagen.