Think like a Futurist

Amidst the big events, it is not often that people come to realise the significance of smaller, more intimate, and informal events that bring people together and allow for better connection. With just seven attendees, Toru, an Innovation Hub, organised an ambitious workshop to promote future studies on February 6 and 7, at the Institute of Educational Development, BRAC University.
Shakil Ahmed, education researcher, conducted the “Think like a Futurist” programme as the ideal futurist would – by ensuring everyone got his/her say. As opposed to a rigidly structured workshop, he used the theme “Exploring the Future of Bangladeshi Cities” to build on his ideas in a way that the attendees could relate to the subject matter and discuss it in their own terms.
By focusing on three key aspects – today's reality, tomorrow's uncertainties, and future possibilities – Ahmed explored what it is to be a “futurist”. He went as far as to claim that transformative future thinking is a way of regaining influence and capacity by exploring alternative futures and envisioning the desired. Shadab Mahmud, freelance health development consultant and a participant at the event added, “Dhaka's present is not what people of Dhaka's past would have thought it would be.”
Asking vital questions, such as “Are citizens and policymakers future-oriented?” the discussion moved to how many people are uncomfortable with uncertainty. Whenever there is an agent of change that strives to affect the future, there is always a certain percentage of active resistance. These active resistors feel inclined to pursue a “default future” where they surrender themselves to an imminent unchangeable state or a “used future” in which case they simply follow the path others had laid out before them. In striking contrast, Ahmed stated that these are what we must strive to avoid. Instead of just riding a metaphorical merry-go-round, it would be more progressive to explore the fair.
He further discussed the holistic frame of the future where everyone has a crucial part to play. In order to live up to this role, he suggested potential tools that might enhance the outcomes. Of these, he talked about an innovate technique called “back-casting”, initially resorting to futuristic visions and then tracing them back to reality. He went on to explain the importance of linking this story, the narrative of the futuristic thoughts, to the strategy of attaining it to maximise the likelihood of success. Not ending there, he urged the participants to first address the worst-case scenario because it is better to prepare for bad times than to wait for them to happen.
Other than uplifting and spirited conversation, the workshop also included interesting exercises that provoked everyone to become active participants. By contemplating the history and development of Tejgaon, the attendees formed groups that came up with their own perception of a “Triangle Future of Tejgaon” – a future they presume based on three features: the pull of the future, the push of the present and the weight of the past. This activity highlighted the futuristic capabilities of the people present there.
Saif Kamal, Founder of Toru, believed his events “catered for local knowledge and aimed to create an ecosystem for innovation.”