‘Postcards from the Future’ (PfF) is a creative, participatory foresight method that invites participants to imagine possible futures through drawing, collage, and writing. Typically, people design or illustrate a postcard that visualizes how their home, neighbourhood, or city might look in 10–50 years or write a message from their future selves to a loved one describing life in that imagined world.
Overview
Originally used in education, design, and community planning, PfF helps bring diverse voices into discussions about the future—especially those often excluded from expert-driven foresight exercises. By centering imagination, emotion, and creativity, it challenges dominant narratives of inevitability and opens space for alternative, more just possibilities.
As feminist and decolonial scholars argue, imagining “otherwise” is an act of resistance. Participatory futuring enables people to reclaim the right to define what a better future means for them, collectively surfacing shared needs, hopes, and values. In this sense, the method not only visualizes possible futures but also nurtures agency in shaping them.
Postcards from the future in IMBRACE
Within IMBRACE, PfF is used to explore how migrants envision climate-resilient and health-promoting futures in their everyday environments. Participants create postcards from the year 2040, imagining positive changes that have improved their ability to cope with extreme weather events. Through drawing or writing, they describe how their homes, neighbourhoods, and communities have adapted to ensure well-being and safety.