Seeds of the Future in the Present: Exploring Pathways for Navigating Towards “Good” Anthropocenes

In this chapter, we present insights from the ongoing research initiative, “Seeds of Good Anthropocenes,” that is at the forefront of approaches for exploring and articulating more positive futures in the Anthropocene.

The chapter is part of the new open access book Urban Planet.

In this chapter we highlight:

The rapid urbanization associated with the Anthropocene provides an imperative for humans to think differently about the future.
The “seeds” approach describes how niche experiments can, over time,coalesce to shift the dominant regime onto a more sustainable trajectory.
To achieve positive urban futures, it is vital to ensure that more positive
narratives inform our lived experience so that, as humans, we are able to act differently in the face of seemingly overwhelming challenges.
Novel scenarios can be developed by imagining futures in which seemingly disparate ideas must coexist; fostering this creativity is important if we are to create positive visions of futures that we would like to achieve.
Urban transformations are complex phenomena; the seeds approach is a tool that can help us understand how transformations occur and how to nudge them towards more sustainable trajectories.