The politics of making and un-making (sustainable) futures

Abstract

Although the general goals of sustainability have become less controversial since the Brundtland report 1987, the concrete imperatives for action such as decarbonization or the preservation of biodiversity do not seem to be very effective in pushing social and political transformation pro- cesses (Miller et al. 2014). Making futures more sustainable is often discussed as a matter of technological, scientific or economic concern—futures have become depolitisized. This special feature points to blind spots in the politi- cal and social dimensions of future making. It seeks to investigate the blockades and potentials of transformation processes that can be found on the level of concrete politi- cal and social practices. Future making can be divided into futures for the present, as concrete visions and plans that are made to facilitate decisions in the present or presents for the future, as images and knowledges that evolve in the present and affect the future in different ways. Futures for the pre- sent are built for example by presenting pathways for climate policy making (Beck and Mahony 2017) or by envisioning utopian technological futures. Presents for the future emerge for example from practices of political decision-making on nuclear waste disposal or public investments. Thus, the proposed special feature wants to shed light on social and political practices that are making and un-mak- ing sustainable futures. Future practices, (i.e. the implicit or explicit building of relations and making of references to future situations and people) take place between the past, present and the future. They evolve in multiple interactions between the production, use and organization of knowl- edge about the future (Granjou et al. 2017), the structural restrictions imposed on collective and individual actors deal- ing with the future (Sardar 1999), the impulses and neces- sities of change, the hopes and plural imaginaries for the future (see Leccardi 2012, Milkoreit 2016, Appadurai 2013) and ethical principles pointing towards just and ‘good’ futures (Adam and Groves 2007; Groves 2014). Building on different debates in Anthropology, Educa- tional sciences, Economics, Environmental Humanities, History, Political Economy, Political science, Science and Technology Studies and Sociology, we aim to critically and explicitly analyse the pitfalls and problems of future prac- tices and develop a more nuanced understanding of sustain- able future practices and their enabling conditions. Thus, the special feature invites contributions to the fol- lowing topics: 1. Presents for the future: analyses of future practices in policy fields and institutions concerning sustainability related topics (such as energy transition, sustainable development, green innovations, international climate policies). 2. Futures for the present: critical engagements with alter- natives and visions in future-making in sustainable transformation initiatives, social movements, educational practices and programmes or investment strategies.