How and When Futures Literacy Started

 

The idea of futures literacy may sound like a recent buzzword, but its roots stretch back decades. It emerged as part of humanity’s growing recognition that the future is not something fixed, predictable, or waiting to be discovered—it is something we can learn to imagine, explore, and even shape.

Early seeds: Futures studies in the mid-20th century

After World War II, the world entered a period of rapid transformation—nuclear power, space exploration, globalization, and the Cold War all fueled uncertainty. Governments, militaries, and think tanks began to invest in futures studies and strategic foresight. The RAND Corporation in the United States, for example, pioneered scenario planning and long-range forecasting in the 1950s. At the same time, corporations like Shell started experimenting with scenarios to prepare for oil shocks.

These early practices were practical and strategic, but they planted the seeds of a deeper question: could foresight be not just a tool for experts, but a skill for everyone?

The UNESCO moment: naming “futures literacy”

The term “futures literacy” gained prominence through the work of UNESCO in the early 2000s, particularly under the leadership of futurist Riel Miller. The concept was framed as a human capability—just like reading or writing—that allows people to understand and use the future differently. Futures literacy was positioned as a right and a skill: everyone should be able to imagine alternatives, challenge assumptions, and not be trapped by single narratives of the future.

UNESCO officially adopted futures literacy as part of its global agenda, hosting Futures Literacy Laboratories (FLLs) across dozens of countries. These labs invited citizens, students, policymakers, and communities to practice imagining multiple futures and to reflect on the stories shaping their choices today.

From foresight to literacy

What made futures literacy distinct from earlier foresight work was its focus on capacity-building rather than prediction. Traditional forecasting asked: What will happen? Futures literacy asked: How can we use the future better? It shifted the emphasis from experts making projections to ordinary people learning to see futures as plural, uncertain, and full of possibility.

Growing momentum in the 2010s and 2020s

Throughout the 2010s, the idea spread beyond UNESCO. Universities began offering courses in futures literacy. NGOs and governments experimented with participatory foresight methods. Schools, museums, and local councils began using futures literacy to engage youth and communities. In 2020, UNESCO published a landmark report, Futures Literacy: Knowing How to Embrace the Unknown, which consolidated its global framework.

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated interest, as the sudden disruption showed just how fragile predictions can be. Futures literacy gained recognition as a way to navigate uncertainty with creativity and resilience.

Futures literacy began in the mid-20th century with the birth of futures studies, but it came into its own in the early 2000s when UNESCO reframed it as a universal human skill. From military think tanks to classrooms, from corporate boardrooms to community workshops, it has evolved into a practice that belongs to everyone. Its history reminds us that the ability to imagine tomorrow is not a luxury—it is part of what makes us human.