Societal participation is essential for equitable, sustainable development. Currently, however, numerous studies point to a sense of societal pessimism regarding the future, accompanied by a withdrawal from major public debates. This trend also affects young people—the generation with the most future ahead of them, whose actions are crucial for sustainable development. Young people who are conscious of sustainability issues—and who, thanks to their knowledge and values, possess great potential to actively shape this change—are precisely the ones facing the heaviest burden.

To help young people overcome this sense of powerlessness regarding the future and to empower them within the context of societal transformations, the participatory, speculative workshop concept "Making Futures" was developed; an initial iteration was subsequently piloted in collaboration with the Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum (an ethnological museum).

The workshop creates a space for designing and exploring visions of the future, while providing participants with a more realistic worldview and fostering futures literacy. According to UNESCO, this is a key comepetency for 21st-century, which enables a radically new approach to the future—and, by extension, to uncertainty. Acquiring this skill fosters a pluralistic understanding of possible futures, expands the imagination, and encourages the conscious use of future-oriented thinking to identify opportunities and courses of action in the present—ultimately making us more resilient in the face of current challenges.