Futures Literacy

What is Futures Literacy?

UNESCO defines Futures Literacy as the capability to use the future to better understand the present and make wiser choices.

In practice, Futures Literacy helps people become more aware of the assumptions they hold about the future, explore alternative possibilities, and see the present in new ways.

It is especially valuable in contexts where uncertainty, complexity, and change require new thinking rather than familiar answers.

Why it matters

Futures Literacy helps individuals and groups to

become more aware of hidden assumptions
work with multiple possible futures
widen options and perspectives
strengthen agency under uncertainty
improve collective sensemaking

Rather than predicting what will happen, Futures Literacy helps people use the future as a lens to rethink the present.

Futures Literacy Laboratories

The main applied format is the Futures Literacy Laboratory (FLL), a structured and participatory workshop process developed in the UNESCO ecosystem.

An FLL helps participants:

surface their assumptions about the future
explore alternative futures
reframe how they see the present
translate new insights into action

A lab is carefully designed around a specific question or challenge and usually unfolds in several phases: reveal, reframe, rethink, and translate.

Typical contexts

Because of its design, an FLL is especially useful in contexts that benefit from collective reflection, reframing, and new perspectives.

Futures Literacy is particularly useful for:

universities and schools
public institutions
NGOs and foundations
local communities and municipalities
youth and adult learning contexts
organisations seeking deep reflection and new perspectives

It can be applied to many themes, including climate, democracy, inclusion, AI, the future of work, healthcare, and social transformation.

Futures Literacy and Foresight are distinct but complementary. In practice, many projects combine both.