Step into tomorrow, today! A new wave of 'Museums of the Future' is transforming how we experience possible futures, using immersive virtual and mixed realities to give participants a ‘live experience’ of the future. From Dubai's ambitious gateway to the future to Helsinki's disaster resilience exhibition, these institutions are backed by significant investment and political will, acting as testbeds for powerful immersive content.

But as these compelling, often state and corporate-backed environments proliferate, a crucial question arises: Are they truly empowering public imagination and fostering critical agency, or subtly imposing predetermined visions on an increasingly anxious youth population?

In this podcast, we dive deep into groundbreaking research that proposes a vital, novel conceptual framework for understanding these complex 'sociodigital' spaces. We'll unpack the technological, textual, interventionist, political-economic, and critical pedagogical dimensions of these environments, revealing how they are designed to shape perceptions and experiences of potential futures.

Join us as we explore critical lines of inquiry around their Affordances (how realism affects imagination), Authorship(who shapes these future narratives and why), Audiences (how participants interpret and are affected by these experiences), Accumulation (the economic and political drivers behind their development), and Agency (opportunities for collective action and democratic engagement). Discover why Futures Studies must lead the critical examination of these 'virtual flying carpets and digital disaster rooms' and their profound impact on our collective capacity for futures-making.

Ref:

Pykett, J., Facer, K., Valladares-Celis, C., & Williamson, B. (2025). Virtual flying carpets and digital disaster rooms: Towards a critical analysis of immersive speculative environments in Museums of the Future. Futures, 172, 103643. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2025.103643