Futures

Futures - magazine for future design & networked thinking
description	German magazine for future research
First edition	November 1991
attitude	2008
Editor-in-chief	Erhard O. Müller †
editor	Network future
Web link	netzwerk-zukunft.de
ISSN (print)	0942-0436

Zukunfts - magazine for future design & networked thinking was the only interdisciplinary magazine for future research and future design that appeared in Germany . The magazine has not been published since the death of its editor-in-chief Erhard O. Müller on May 13, 2008.

editor

The magazine was published by the Netzwerk Zukunft - Gesellschaft für Zukunftsgestaltung e. V. and the IZT - Institute for Future Studies and Technology Assessment .

The Future Network was founded in 1989 with the aim of strengthening future research and civic engagement for sustainable social development in the spirit of Robert Jungk . It consists of around 30 local nodes in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the USA. As he sees himself, his task is to help develop, collect and pass on visions for a better future in the face of global ecological and social problems and to promote the implementation of social experiments. In addition to co-editing the magazine, future talks, workshops and other events are held.

The founding board of trustees of the Netzwerk Zukunft included a. Robert Jungk , Ossip K. Flechtheim , Martin Jänicke , Rolf Schwendter , Lea Rosh , Mike Cooley , Riccardo Petrella and Rolf Kreibich . The association has around 150 members and over 25 decentralized network nodes.

The IZT is a non-profit research institution founded in 1981. The main tasks of the IZT are the implementation of research projects, scientific and public events, the preparation of reports and advice to politics, business, culture and civil society. The focus of the work is the research and development of ecologically, socially and generatively compatible solution strategies in business and society.

development

The magazine emerged from the network circular . The first issue appeared in November 1991 on the main topic of mobility with articles by Karl Otto Schallaböck , Wilgart Schuchardt , Markus Petersen , Markus Hesse , Uta Bauer , Dieter Teufel , Michael Müller , Hans and Annette Boĕs , Robert Jungk , Gerhard Kocher , Weert Canzler , Eduardo Galeano , Klaus Burmeister and Katrin Gillwald .

Since June 1997 the magazine future management - forum for sustainable business practices has also been part of the magazine " Zukunfts". Focused on topics, this section forms a forum for the practical discussion of economic aspects of sustainability.

In May 1998 there was a merger with the newspaper forum bürgerbewegung , which has since appeared as a forum for citizen participation and social dialogue in an independent section of the magazine. The thematic focal points are initiatives and models of public participation , social dialogue and the democratic networking of future knowledge.

construction

The front part of each issue of the approx. 80-page magazine is devoted to a thematic focus on which national and international experts from science, business, politics and civil society write articles.

The middle section of the magazine is the “forum bürgerbewegung”, whose roots lie in the democratic revolution of autumn 1989. This part reports on civil society projects such as B. the municipal activities for a "Local Agenda 21" in the foreground. The explicit aim is to develop an east-west dialogue on elementary questions about the future, in which different perspectives on shaping the future are also reflected.

The back of the magazine is made up of regular sections. In particular, this includes reporting from the scientific institutes in the Future Network such as z-Punkt , IZT and the Secretariat for Future Research (sfz) . Results and findings from current research projects are presented.

The magazine closes with a service section, in which information is provided about dates and "futures news" and, in cooperation with the Robert Jungk library for questions about the future in Salzburg, newer future literature is reviewed.

subjects

The aim of the magazine was to take a stand on fundamental questions about the future and to open a social dialogue about sustainable perspectives.

The focal points take up current or urgent social discourses or try to initiate them and provide them with orientation knowledge. They lie in the areas of sustainable development , future technologies , social innovations, sustainable production methods and technology assessment, sustainable corporate strategies and ecological economics, participatory democracy models, concepts for the future of the welfare state , gender equality and health, urban and regional development, information and communication technologies and new media as well new lifestyles and sustainable consumption patterns.

Authors

The range of authors of the magazine results particularly from the main topics of the respective issue. It ranges from established politics and economic management to actors from civic contexts and the “alternative scene” to science and research. In view of the diversity and complexity of the key issues raised, the authorship is put together in such a way that, on the one hand, the various positions and perspectives become visible and, on the other hand, a dialogical moment is created. The more well-known authors include Franz Alt , Hans-Peter Dürr , Johannes Rau , Udo Ernst Simonis , Rolf Kreibich , Gisela Notz and Pierre Bourdieu .

Quote

“The future stands for the pain of separation through the loss of certain truths, for the self-chosen homelessness in a world without counter-models and for the willingness to face the confrontation with a dynamic world, with antagonistic interests, with growing risks and with unmistakable sources of social conflict. The wages for the separation work are meager. The future will not be able to provide an alternative to the existing. The future will not be a cathedral of new thinking. Futures will be wrong. "

- Klaus Burmeister : Editorial for the first issue.

To the title of the magazine

The unusual plural “futures” is consciously different from the term “ future ”, which is actually used as a singular tantrum . It is intended to underline the openness and plurality of future developments. A distinction can be made between possible , probable and desirable futures.

Unlike z. B. in history , the research object of futurology represents a topos that is not specified. Rather, the space of future developments can be understood as a movable funnel that opens up to the more distant future and becomes less and less determinable . The decisive factor is the actual behavior of the actors over time. B. is influenced by models and other normative or intrinsic framework conditions. This means that the question “How will we live in the future?” Is given equal weight to the question “How do we want to live in the future?”.

This is the basis for the demand of future research to include not only factual knowledge but also assessment, orientation and design knowledge in the knowledge process.