Futures paper: Seven Circles of Design and Inquiry

A design approach informed by living systems and Indigenous Systems Knowledge.

About the Seven Circles paper

This paper is part of a series being created through the development of the National Futures Initiative; an Australian initiative led by TACSI (and seed funded by The Paul Ramsay Foundation) that’s creating opportunities for individuals, communities, and organisations to imagine and activate a more socially just future.

This paper introduces frameworks and protocols that illustrate a practical process for working with Indigenous Systems Knowledges; processes that are already informing the design of the National Futures Initiative.  These same protocols could also be applied to the design of mainstream services, strategies, and policies that are grappling with complexity.

This paper is first narrated by AIME, who provide us with important context, and then by TACSI, who reflect on how their perspectives, and the design of the National Futures Initiative, have been reoriented.

Read the paper

Who is this paper for?

  • Non-Indigenous leaders looking to bring Indigenous Knowledges to their work

  • Practitioners with an interest in Futures and Indigenous Knowledges 

  • People leading futuring initiatives in other countries with colonial histories

  • Partners of the National Futures Initiative

Introducing the National Futures Initiative

In 2023, we embarked on a journey to explore TACSI's future as Australia's national centre for social innovation by connecting with 30 visionary thinkers at the edges of our networks. These conversations uncovered how climate change, machine intelligence, and extremisms would not only challenge society but also deepen existing inequities without collective action.

Out of these conversations the National Futures Initiative emerged: a commitment to building national capability to realise a more just future. 

Download the paper

Fill in the form below to download the paper. A download link will appear on submission.

We'll also send you an email containing the link for future reference.

 

Get in touch

If you’d like to know more about the National Futures Initiative, or you’re interested in being a part of it reach out to chris.vanstone@tacsi.org.au or kerry.jones@tacsi.org.au

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