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Short abstract

This contribution presents the “Utopian Envisioning Lab”, a participatory methodology leveraging the history of utopias to co-create alternative futures. Drawing on a March 2026 pilot implementation, we explore empirical results and graphic recording generated through collective anticipation.

Long abstract

How can the history of utopias serve as a practical tool for co-creating futures? Answering the call for interventionist historiographies, this contribution presents the methodological framework and outcomes of the “Utopian Envisioning Labs”. This participatory device leverages the historical study of utopian experiences not merely as an object of specialised inquiry, but as an active resource for co-producing plural futures.

The lab structures this historical intervention in three distinct phases: revisiting past utopian practices, valuing present community-led resilience, and collaboratively imagining future scenarios. By translating utopian historical research into a hands-on methodology, we challenge default futures and democratize the imagination of alternatives.

Specifically, this intervention will share the execution and results of a pilot implementation conducted in Leeds in March 2026. We will detail the participatory dynamics employed and critically reflect on the empirical outcomes generated by the attendees (students, grassroots activists and scholars). A central focus will be the role of visual translation in this process, showcasing the graphic recording produced in real-time during the session. The visual map demonstrates how making and doing history can tangibly articulate desirable futures.

Ultimately, by bringing these results to the roundtable, this contribution seeks to discuss how integrating historical narratives with anticipatory practices offers a scalable infrastructure for researchers to engage with, and intervene in, present socio-ecological crises.