Futures Research Unpacked

#24 - Interdisciplinary futures? A conceptual approach

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As we face a global "polycrisis," we’re realizing that our biggest hurdle isn't a lack of ideas, but the fact that our experts are all speaking different languages when it comes to the future.

In this episode
  • The "unmanageable mess" of theory: Why the explosion of different ways to study the future has created a site of difference that makes it nearly impossible for researchers to agree (Lundberg et al., 2025) [1, 2].
  • Beyond Foresight: Why our traditional methods for predicting what's next might actually be restricting our ability to solve problems like climate change and AI (Lundberg et al., 2025) [3, 4].
  • The Bridge-Builders: How "concept-metaphors" can serve as meeting points where an anthropologist and a computer scientist can finally find common ground (Lundberg et al., 2025) [5, 6].
  • A New Framework: A deep dive into the three layers—ontological, epistemological, and phenomenological—that help us organize the "mess" of future-thinking (Lundberg et al., 2025) [7, 8].
    • Key concepts
    • Polycrisis: A cluster of related global risks with compounding effects, where the overall impact exceeds the sum of each individual part (Lundberg et al., 2025) [3].
    • Concept-metaphor: Domain terms that orient us toward shared exchange; they are malleable sites where diverse approaches to the future become mutually recognizable (Lundberg et al., 2025) [5, 6].
    • Ontological Framing: Overarching structures of thought that give shape to how we perceive the fundamental qualities and characteristics of a future (Lundberg et al., 2025) [9].
    • Anticipatory Infrastructure: Concepts that serve as a foundation for envisioning how futures with specific qualities might actually be lived and experienced (Lundberg et al., 2025) [9].
      • Memorable quotes

      "While theories tend to be singular and competing... some anthropologists have turned to concepts as meeting points where we might encounter and know positions and approaches contrary to our own" (Lundberg et al., 2025) [1].

      "The 'existing literature' is a similarly messy ethnographic site... constituted by dynamic and changing 'collections of things that become intertwined'" (Lundberg et al., 2025) [10, 11].

      Why it matters

      In an era of intersecting global threats, academic silos act as a barrier to real-world impact (Lundberg et al., 2025) [3]. By moving away from "intellectual jousting" over competing theories and toward a shared conceptual language, we can foster the genuine interdisciplinary collaboration needed to navigate the uncertainties of the 21st century (Lundberg et al., 2025) [1, 12].

      Further reading
      • Appadurai, A. (2013). The future as cultural fact: Essays on the global condition. A foundational look at how imagination and aspiration shape our cultural vision of what's next [13, 14].
      • Akama, Y., Pink, S., & Sumartojo, S. (2018). Uncertainty and Possibility. An exploration of how treating uncertainty as generative, rather than a problem to be solved, opens up new paths for research [14, 15].

        • Ref:
        Robert Lundberg, Sarah Pink, Zane Pinyon. Interdisciplinary futures? A conceptual approach. Futures, Volume 172, 2025, 103648. ISSN 0016-3287. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2025.103648

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        Futures Research UnpackedBy Wensupu Yang