Webinar: Falling in Love with the Future – imagination as a tool for resilience
21 July @ 12:00 – 13:00
We are good at imagining how things fall apart. Picturing a future we actually want to live in, and believing it is possible, turns out to be much harder, and Rob Hopkins argues that this failure of imagination is one of the biggest barriers to change we face. If we cannot picture a better food system, why would we work to build one?
This webinar closes our resilience series by turning from risk to possibility. Where our recent sessions have mapped shocks, vulnerabilities and the institutional trust needed to act, Rob asks a different question: what would our activism look like if cultivating hope and longing for the future was its primary objective? Drawing on his work with communities around the world, and on the playful “time travel” experiments at the heart of his latest book, he makes the case that imagination is not a distraction from the hard practical work of resilience but a precondition for it.
How do we help people create memories of a future they want? What can communities do to move from anxiety to agency? And how does imagining a thriving, resilient food system make it more likely that we will actually build one? Rob will explore all this with us, and leave plenty of time for your questions.
About Rob:
Rob Hopkins is the co-founder of the Transition Network and Transition Town Totnes, a movement for community-led resilience that has spread to thousands of groups across more than 40 countries. He is the author of several books, including The Transition Handbook, From What Is to What If, and most recently How to Fall in Love with the Future, which explores how imagining positive futures can reshape activism and collective action. An Ashoka Fellow, he holds a PhD from the University of Plymouth and two honorary doctorates, and runs “Imagination Catalyst” trainings for organisations worldwide.
About Neil:
Neil Ward is a co-founder and Director of Root and Reason and Professor of Rural and Regional Development at the University of East Anglia (UEA). He is a human geographer specialising in agrifood and rural development. He was UEA’s Deputy Vice Chancellor (2014-21) and Director of Newcastle University’s Centre for Rural Economy (2004-08). He’s served as a Cabinet Office advisor on agricultural policy and has appeared before numerous parliamentary select committees. Neil is author of Net Zero, Food and Farming: Climate Change and the UK Agri-Food System (Routledge, 2023).
About this webinar series:
This webinar is part of a monthly series run by Root and Reason (formerly AFN Network+) which explores the transformation of the UK agri-food system with leading movers and shakers. Expect deep and varied insight from across the sector, including farmers, scientists, policy analysts, community leaders, retailers, politicians, businesses and health professionals.