World Expos

Faced with daunting global challenges including climate change, dizzying digital transformations in society, ever-widening inequality, persistent failures to curtail warfare, and widespread public misconceptions of science and technology, we are stumbling towards an uncertain future that threatens more of the same or worse. 

We need future visions that are crafted by a wider range of voices, that acknowledge their stake in just and equitable futures, and that account for the creativity, ingenuity, and place-based knowledge of those living with the ongoing legacies of colonialism. Further, these visions should be experienced deeply by diverse publics. Both narratives and people, particularly those from the Global South, should be invited into dialogue with each other. 

A model for this immersive, sensual, and emotive exploration and shared storytelling is already in existence and could be leveraged toward visioning the futures we need. This model is the World Expo. Expos and their World's Fair predecessors have long promoted visions of futures that are often technological in nature. The Expo space is an existing, robust forum for future talk and dialogue between an international plurality of visions. The next World Expo will be held in Osaka, Japan in 2025. Based on our experience at Expo 2020 in Dubai, we argue that these spaces can foster a rich and inclusive dialogue about futures, and serve as an immersive, tangible, and experiential Futures Lab.

Read more about our Expo2020 Dubai research.

Shulruff, T. & Wyman, L. (2023). A Trip through Tomorrowland: The World Expo as Futures Lab. World Futures Review.