I’ve been looking a lot into collective imagination to guide collective action. As such, imagination (which has ‘image’ in its name) is central to worldbuilding. As such, worldbuilding has its roots in fiction but also game design.
Here I’ve found the following:
Stackelberg 2025
This is brilliant as it shows that worldbuilding can/or even should be collaborative. But of course, then interesting challenges emerge in collaboration and understanding of realities, as these might be rooted in what each member of a group can contribute or their sense of reality. But if reality ‘is broken’ then, what is left to imagine that is not biased, that is not deeply structured in the current systematic way of thinking that perpetuates current power relations? I guess one might want to imagine a world where they can see themselves in it, or not (maybe a world without humans).
But let’s park these speculative ideas and apply some of them. Let’s take the perspective of young people today. How might they imagine their future and the world they will be in – let’s say, in 10 years time or more? How far can they go on the thinking and how much of it is based on their lived experiences? Or would they imagine they can be someone (e.g., a role model)? It is thinking who I would like to be and which world I would belong to; it is both.
It sounds to me that, even with all that exists and prompts we can give them to imagine a future for themselves, the closest they might get is potentially to look across generations, across the concept of time – and time that allows actors to shape places.
Hope you’re following my thinking here. As such, places relate to ‘the world’. But there is more to it. One might not find a place in the world. So with this, what is the point of building worlds if these do not provide a sense of place? Or if this sense of place is temporary? Or liminal?
[this is a living document, updated 7am 23rd May 2024, while having a coffee and arranging breakfast to the kids]
Please have a look at this below and leave comments if you want to join this discussion. I will reflect on place later.