Austerity Futures: Imagining and materialising the future in an age of austerity.

-未来是以什么方式想象的？-经济和社会环境的变化，如衰退和紧缩，是否改变了我们对未来的看法？-未来是如何规划、预测和/或先发制人的？紧缩削减如何鼓励或阻止某些未来计划？-政策或企业试图阻止某些未来和实现其他未来的不同方式有哪些？-我们如何体验现在的未来，关注未来告诉我们关于今天的价值观、信仰和理想的什么？近年来，我们正在朝着一个比过去和现在更好的未来前进的想法往往主导着西方社会。巴拉克·奥巴马在2008年竞选美国总统时传递了希望的信息，1997年，工党的选举国歌承诺：情况只会变得更好。然而，在2008年全球金融危机之后，面对有关环境灾难、恐怖主义、粮食和安全问题的预测，这种对未来的乐观情绪受到了质疑。如今，在戴维·卡梅伦所说的新的“紧缩时代”，人们对下一代的未来不会更好--更富有、更健康、更幸福--的希望正在变得越来越小。在紧缩社会的背景下，这一系列活动将领先的研究人员与公共、私营和第三部门从事技术工作的人聚集在一起，以规划未来，以便为交流知识和了解提供一个论坛，并激发关于未来的辩论和讨论。该系列特别关注转向紧缩社会的问题，在这个社会中，个人和国家的节俭被强调为纠正经济停滞的一种手段，它如何影响被视为可能的那种未来。新的医疗和技术发展所承诺的未来的希望是否正在减弱，或者相反，技术是否被视为创造更美好未来的一种手段？活动人士对环境更加友好的社会的概念是被紧缩措施削弱了还是重新焕发了活力？我们对下一代的期望是否因为广泛的经济、社会和政策变化而消退了？这一系列的五个研讨会和一个国际会议将在英格兰各地的不同大学和伦敦的工作基金会举行。他们将涵盖环境、健康和医药、金融、设计、新媒体和安全等主题。他们还将探索更多关于未来的日常经历和计划，包括生活叙事和不平等模式。在一个紧缩的社会中，一些人的未来是否更有可能(被视为)下滑或停滞不前？如果希望和期望降低，这些会不会助长和复制不平等的权力关系？系列研讨会的主要组织原则包括：强调确保组织者和参与者来自高等教育内不同的地点/职位；承诺确保一些非学术利益攸关方和用户群体的参与和参与；通过创建一个网站传播研究成果，其中包括在系列研讨会期间发表的所有论文的录像或书面版本和其他相关材料。感兴趣的人还将被鼓励通过Facebook页面和Twitter账户参与进来。该应用程序是由来自兰开斯特大学、达勒姆大学、约克大学和伦敦金史密斯学院以及社会未来天文台的经验丰富的早期职业研究人员组成的团队。该团队在这一领域拥有跟踪记录，并证明了他们能够制作出一系列原创的、令人兴奋的、旨在对学术界以外的、对政策制定、第三部门和行业思维产生影响的活动。

- In what ways is the future imagined?- Do changes in economic and social circumstances, like recession and austerity, change our view of what the future holds?- How is the future planned for, anticipated and/or pre-empted? How do austerity cuts encourage or discourage certain plans for the future?- What are the different ways in which policy or business attempt to prevent certain futures and bring other futures into being?-How do we experience the future in the present and what does a focus on the future tell us about today's values, beliefs and ideals?In recent years the idea that we are progressing towards a future that is better than the past and present has tended to dominate Western societies. Barack Obama campaigned for the US Presidency on a message of hope in 2008 and in 1997 the Labour election anthem promised that 'things could only get better'. However, this optimism about the future has been placed in doubt following the 2008 global financial crisis and in the face of predictions about environmental catastrophes, terrorism, food and security issues. It seems that today, in what David Cameron calls a new 'age of austerity', hopes that the future will not be better -richer, healthier, happier- for the next generation are diminishing. In the context of an austerity society, this series of events brings together leading researchers with those working on techniques in the public, private and third sectors for mapping the future in order to provide a forum for the exchange of knowledge and understanding and to stimulate debate and discussion on the future. The series is particularly interested in addressing how a shift to an austerity society, where both personal and state thrift is emphasized as a means to correct a flatlining economy, effects the kinds of futures that are seen as possible. Are hopes for the future that new medical and technological developments promise on the wane, or, conversely, is technology seen as a means of generating a better future? Are activists' conceptions of a more environmentally friendly society diminished or re-invigorated by austerity measures? Have our aspirations for the next generation faded as a result of widespread economic, social and policy change?The series of five seminars and one international conference will be held at different universities across England and at the Work Foundation, London. They will cover topics such as environment, health and medicine, finance, design, new media and security. They will also explore more everyday experiences of and plans for the future, including life narratives and patterns of inequality. In an austerity society, are the futures of some people more likely to (be seen to) decline or stagnate? If hopes and aspirations are reduced, do these feed into and reproduce unequal power relations?Key principles of organization for the seminar series include an emphasis on ensuring that organizers and participants come from a diverse range of locations/positions within higher education; a commitment to ensuring the participation and engagement of a number on non-academic stakeholders and user groups; and the dissemination of research through the creation of a website to include filmed or written versions of all papers delivered during the series and other relevant materials. Interested parties will also be encouraged to become involved through a Facebook page and Twitter account.The application is put together by a team of experienced and early career researchers from the universities of Lancaster, Durham, York and Goldsmiths College, London and the Social Futures Observatory. The team have track records in this field and have demonstrated that they can produce a series of events that is original and intellectually exciting and designed to have impact outside of academia, on policy making, third sector and industry thinking.