About Climaginaries

Climaginaries began as a three-year research project launched in September 2018 and funded by the Swedish Research Council FORMAS. The project brought together scholars from Lund, Utrecht, Warwick and Durham Universities with the aim of advancing understanding of imaginaries as forces shaping societal transformation. In particular, the research explored how imaginaries can catalyse the political, economic and social responses required for transitions beyond fossil-fuel dependence.

The project examined how futures are imagined and communicated across different domains. Through modelling and scenario techniques, experimental research, visions of societal transformation, and cultural representations such as literature, film and art, we explored the transformative capacity of imaginaries: how compelling narratives of the future are created, how they circulate in society, and how they can shape collective responses to environmental change.

Over time, the work expanded beyond analytical research into creative and experimental practices. Alongside scholarly work, the project developed a series of public experiments designed to make possible futures more tangible and discussable through storytelling, exhibitions, soundwalks and participatory events.

In 2021, Climaginaries became a Sweden-registered non-profit organisation. Since then, the initiative has continued to develop projects exploring possible environmental futures through artistic, narrative and immersive methods. Many of these projects take the form of speculative situations—experiential encounters with possible futures that invite participants to reflect on how societies might live, adapt and transform on a changing planet.

Today, Climaginaries operates as a collaborative platform bringing together researchers, artists, designers, municipalities, cultural institutions and civil society organisations. Together we explore how environmental futures are imagined, experienced and debated in public life, and how creative forms of futures engagement can contribute to broader conversations about societal transformation.