Designing Ancient Futures for a New World

🌱 Transforming collapse into emergence through creativity, design, and storytelling

Ancient Futures is a term that can refer to a revitalization of ancient ways of living, wisdom, or practices, to address present-day challenges. It involves the idea of drawing on timeless knowledge to solve modern problems, often associated with indigenous cultures, holistic thinking, and sustainable living.

The term was introduced by Helena Norberg-Hodge, who highlights the resilience and sustainability of traditional societies, where communities thrived through deep connections to nature, a holistic worldview, and practices passed down through generations. These societies, while not perfect, understood balance and sustainability in ways that modern, industrial systems seem to have forgotten.

Image of Kairos. Source: Google images.

Cyclicality and Kairos

In a more metaphysical sense, Ancient Futures can imply a cyclical relationship with time—where what is considered "ancient" or "old" is not fixed but has the potential to bring about a future vision that transforms our relationship with nature, technology, and each other. It speaks to the idea of future possibilities that emerge through a deep engagement with the past, not as a nostalgic ideal but as a fundament for rebuilding or rethinking systems that may no longer serve their intended purpose. Thus connecting to the purity of that intended purpose and opening the potential to design new futures. Creating a space in time for reimagining our world by drawing on ancient wisdom, sparking creativity, and for using storytelling as a tool for transformation.

The space that opens has the unique characteristic of being suspended in time. Stepping out, as it were, from the rhythm of the cycles and into Kairos time. Kairos was the Greek god of opportunity. Kairos time represents the opportune moment, a window within the cycles in which conditions are just right for something new or meaningful to emerge. Unlike Kronos time, which is linear and measured in minutes, hours, and days, Kairos is qualitative, emphasizing the perfect timing for action or insight.

Kairos allows for spontaneity, creativity, and the unexpected connections that often fuel creative expression. Embracing Kairos means seizing those moments of clarity when ideas flow effortlessly, and transformative creativity is possible. How revealing to know that Kairos was among the most elusive gods in the Greek Pantheon. Depicted as a winged deity, he danced precariously on the edge of a razor. One hand held the scales of fate, while the other stretched out to tip them, changing the course of destiny. As the god of fortunate opportunity, Kairos embodied those fleeting, mystical moments that give rise to novelty and surprise.

The time in between times

When Kairos opens up opportunity by breaking the cycle of time, we enter liminality. Liminality refers to a threshold or transitional state, the "in-between" space where one is neither in a defined state nor fully in another. This concept, developed by anthropologist Victor Turner, was originally used to describe the rites of passage in which individuals undergo transformation, crossing from one social role or stage of life to anothe In a broader, societal sense, the word “liminality” captures the essence of moments of crisis, flux, and transformation.

The liminal state is one of uncertainty and vulnerability, where familiar structures disintegrate, but the new systems or realities have not yet fully taken shape. One could say, that liminality is a time in which the potential for reinvention or total destruction exists in equal measure. Just like the scales that Kairos holds in his hands deptic. It could go either way.

In other words, liminality is both a challenge and an opportunity. It’s a moment when existing structures and ways of thinking are no longer adequate. However, it is also a time ripe for redesign, transformation, and reinvention. Liminality invites us to question the status quo and to explore new paradigms that can emerge from the chaos and uncertainty of systemic collapse.

Systemic Collapse signals endings and beginnings

Systemic collapse manifests in different ways, such as the environmental degradation we’re witnessing globally (e.g., climate change, biodiversity loss), financial instability, political corruption, and rising social inequality. Collapse is gradual, marked by crises that amplify over time—think of escalating climate events, financial crashes, and social unrest.

Yet, within this crisis lies the potential for profound transformation. As old systems crumble, there’s space for new ideas, new designs, and new ways of organizing life. This is where design—understood as the ability to transform existing conditions into preferred ones—becomes key.

Design empowers us to reimagine the systems we inhabit and finding ways to make the world more sustainable, equitable, and harmonious. As our modern systems fail or become unsustainable, we need to go back to the drawing table. Ask ourselves why we did what we did and inquire for other ways of doing. What did we know that we have forgotten? What led us here? What needs to be brought back into the mix (ie re-membered, become a member again). If things dis-integrate: what do we need to integrate?

Design, in our current context, becomes a tool of transformation. It’s about creating solutions that address the pressing needs of our time—whether that’s designing for environmental sustainability, social equity, or economic fairness. The power of design is that it can translate abstract ideas into concrete realities. It can take ancient wisdom—whether it’s sustainable farming techniques, communal living practices, or systems of governance—and adapt them to modern contexts, blending the old with the new in a way that propels us toward a better future.

Where the liminal period signals endings: we have the chance to re-evaluate our systems, reconstruct values, and create new futures. But there is also a regenerative impulse, there are new beginnings to be designed.

Rather than a regression to the past, Ancient Futures provide a new synthesis—where ancient wisdom meets contemporary knowledge. Allowing the cyclicality to become expansive and life-oriented, not turning back the clock.

What brought us here won’t get us there

“What brought us here won’t get us there”, or “You can’t solve problems with the same level of thinking that created them”… These two quotes powerfully illustrate our current conundrum. We designed the world as it is. And now, within the pain of collapse may lie a portal to new possibilities for reclaiming sustainable, holistic practices that can offer solutions to problems created by modernity.

The cycle we are now ending, has been a cycle in which we focused on certain ways of thinking which gave us progress but fell short on many other aspects. Which means, simply, that we need more and different ways of thinking.

This intersection offers a powerful invitation: to hold space for the wisdom of the past while also remaining open to new forms of life, governance, and interconnectedness. It's an invitation to creatively rebuild a world that acknowledges the cyclical nature of existence, where future prosperity depends not on technological advancement alone, but on the cultivation of sustainable practices and communal well-being. And it is something we need to do together: holding space for the new and holding space for our emotions in the face of it all.

Stories are tools for transformation

One of the most powerful tools at our disposal during times of systemic collapse is storytelling. Stories shape our perceptions of reality, influence collective behavior, and drive social change. In times of transition, storytelling becomes a way to weave together past, present, and future, providing meaning and context to the challenges we face.

By crafting stories, we invite others to imagine new ways of living and being, and in doing so, we can inspire collective action. In her book Design is Storytelling, Ellen Lupton illustrates the power of narrative in design: “Design never sits still, just like a story. By weaving these stories together to fluctuate over time and space, we can create experiences that really move people...” And goes on to say: “Storytelling is a real thing. It’s connected humans for thousands of years, before text was ever written down.” As designers we can help make new stories to help us make sense of the world and connect to the possibilities of the future. As humans we can create a connection to each other and to our context. And in doing so, we can also learn from the past, where we became wired for the power of stories through centuries of oral tradition and narratives to help us navigate, understand and love our world. This is a hugely transformational endeavour: to do this for one another and for our world.

Stories can shape our collective imagination by inspiring us, one person at a time: to co-create a different world using design as a tool for systemic change, and co-create a future that is sustainable, equitable, and resilient. Before we know it, more of us will feel inspired to co-design the new. Stories have the power to spread and inspire. We become the stories we tell ourselves and each other. So let’s reimagine and rebuild a world out of these multiple crises—a world that is waiting for the creative solutions that will tell a different and more prosperous story.

In the words of the amazing Henry David Thoreau: “You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island of opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land; there is no other life but this.” And so it is.

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