TATSUYOSHI SAIJO AND FUTURE DESIGN
Tatsuyoshi Saijo and Future Design. In Japan, economist Tatsuyoshi Saijo had a simple yet radical question: What if we invited the people of the future into today’s decision-making?
While studying how short-term thinking harms societies, Saijo discovered that when citizens are asked to imagine themselves as people living fifty years ahead, they make wiser, more sustainable choices. He called this practice Future Design—a structured way for communities to “time-travel” into the next generation’s shoes. Beginning in the small city of Yahaba, residents met in two groups—“current citizens” and “future citizens.”
Elders Action Network's Future Design Group. This same principle animates our work at Let’s Be Changemakers in conjunction with Elders Action Network. So far we've developed:
We're now ready to join our counterparts in Japan, Wales, Finland and beyond by offering future design experiences here in the United States.
Saijo’s discovery turned imagination into civic responsibility—showing that empathy across time can be as transformative as empathy across generations. It’s a model for how we, too, might design a more generous democracy.
An Indirect Approach to Changemaking. In the language of our Let's Be Changemakers program, Saijo's method has a physics to it. Future Design works "indirectly"—not by changing policies or power structures per se, but rather by reshaping citizen's "mental field" -- their attitudes and values -- in which choices are made. His method revealed a new social force: empathy extended through time, which alters the conditions under which wisdom can arise, kind of like "the way gravity bends the path of light."
To learn more contact Clint Wilkins, the Project Lead for The Future Design Group: clintwilkins@gmail.com.
While studying how short-term thinking harms societies, Saijo discovered that when citizens are asked to imagine themselves as people living fifty years ahead, they make wiser, more sustainable choices. He called this practice Future Design—a structured way for communities to “time-travel” into the next generation’s shoes. Beginning in the small city of Yahaba, residents met in two groups—“current citizens” and “future citizens.”
Elders Action Network's Future Design Group. This same principle animates our work at Let’s Be Changemakers in conjunction with Elders Action Network. So far we've developed:
- an in-person prototype workshop;
- and beta-tested this method in groups of various size -- in person and virtually.
We're now ready to join our counterparts in Japan, Wales, Finland and beyond by offering future design experiences here in the United States.
Saijo’s discovery turned imagination into civic responsibility—showing that empathy across time can be as transformative as empathy across generations. It’s a model for how we, too, might design a more generous democracy.
An Indirect Approach to Changemaking. In the language of our Let's Be Changemakers program, Saijo's method has a physics to it. Future Design works "indirectly"—not by changing policies or power structures per se, but rather by reshaping citizen's "mental field" -- their attitudes and values -- in which choices are made. His method revealed a new social force: empathy extended through time, which alters the conditions under which wisdom can arise, kind of like "the way gravity bends the path of light."
To learn more contact Clint Wilkins, the Project Lead for The Future Design Group: clintwilkins@gmail.com.