From climate change to ageing societies and migration, the questions that face our communities are complex. Difficult decisions are needed for the long-term, but too often our decision-making gets stuck and hard choices are avoided as short-term trade-offs become apparent.

Public engagement and consultation is now a core part of the work of local authorities, but even fashionable new techniques like Citizens' Assemblies are only a small part of the way that the public can be engaged in tackling complex, long-term issues.

There are many tools available which can make it easier to forge a consensus on actions now that may have a big impact in the long-run. These many methods, which Nesta calls ‘participatory futures', mobilise far larger numbers of people in thinking about the future – rather than just relying on professionals and experts.

Going well beyond traditional town hall-style meetings or focus groups, they make use of new digital technologies and practices borrowed from arts, theatre and design. This means they can involve more people, as well as help people create collective images of positive, desirable futures, which they can coalesce around and use to guide collaborative action.

Participatory futures methods are being introduced around the world – some commissioned by mayors or ministers and with a remit to feed into decision-making, while others are much more informal and ‘bottom-up'.

On these pages there are some examples of participatory futures exercises that were commissioned by local authorities as part of an expanded approach to public engagement.

These methods can help citizens feel more sense of agency and resilience, and can also help to rebuild declining trust in public institutions as people work alongside authorities to create the future, rather than comment, on plans created by distant experts.

In the 21st century, these tools will become an increasingly important part of public engagement for any local authority.

Laurie Smith is principal researcher, explorations, at Nesta

For more examples of participatory futures methods, case studies and how they can fit into decision-making process, visit https://www.nesta.org.uk/report/our-futures-people-people/

CASE STUDY ONE: FINDING PLACES

Finding Places is a participatory futures exercise that helped Hamburg residents find optimal housing locations for refugees in the city, in order to avoid possible future conflict in communities. This approach is more interactive and collaborative than traditional methods, as participants are able to make decisions and take action.

During 2016, Germany had received nearly 200,000 asylum requests, leading both central Government and cities across the country to face huge challenges. The project attempted to ease the pressure by finding homes for 79,000 of the refugees.

Hamburg is Germany's second largest city and facilities for refugees were concentrated in a few specific areas instead of spread evenly throughout all neighbourhoods. Officials in Hamburg knew they had to improve housing conditions for refugees and make the transition process better for existing community members. Participants wanted to ensure that there were better relations between themselves and the refugees.

Between May and July 2016, 34 public engagement workshops using interactive CityScope technology were set up to gather the views of Hamburg residents. The residents were asked to combine optically tagged colour-coded Lego bricks, augmented reality, touch feedback and geographical simulation algorithms to understand current urban land use patterns and suggest housing sites.

By placing different types of Lego data blocks onto the neighbourhood map, residents could show the locations where they thought refugee housing would work well.

Residents managed to identify 161 locations for refugee accommodations, which would represent housing for roughly around 24,000 refugees if fully implemented. The locations went on to be evaluated by the city to see whether they would be a good fit.

Both city leaders and residents rated Finding Places highly, stating that the initiative offered a positive experience. Residents and city leaders found the process and the CityScope tool a useful aid to real-time decision-making, while those who took part in the workshops saw themselves as ‘partners in an eye-level dialogue with policy-makers and the city administration, being able to supply planning authorities with relevant information based on their local knowledge'.

The Finding Places project ended in 2017 and is recommended by the EU and several research bodies as a path to sustainable planning for refugees in other areas.

CASE STUDY TWO: Newcastle City Futures

In 2014, Newcastle University led the Future of Cities project with partners in the private and public sectors, to look into opportunities and challenges facing the city over the next 50 years. Situated in 2065, the visions would support reflections on key challenges facing Newcastle, relating to demographic shifts, economic growth, social and environmental changes.

Approximately 2,500 Newcastle residents were engaged in the visioning and scenario development stage through workshops, open consultations and a public programme of events. The public programme included presentations, films and panel debates, where members of the public either during or after programme could provide feedback and signals about what they thought were realistic futures for Newcastle. There was also a pop-up ‘Newcastle City Futures' exhibition that presented the city's history to act as a prompt in discussions, debates and to engage various communities in discussions about the city's change and renewal.

As well as public engagement, around 100 stakeholders across the public, private, academic and community/non-profit sectors participated in the project through Delphi surveys (questionnaires that allow participants to develop ideas about potential future developments around an issue) and ideation workshops.

The project organisers thought that the public engagement methods – especially the public exhibition – succeeded in helping Newcastle residents learn about the past and present of the city and also what realistic rates of change look like. The project also helped the city council understand what really matters to residents in Newcastle.

By the end of Newcastle City Futures 2065, the council had appointed representatives from the public, private and academic sectors to maintain a long-term thinking capability within Newcastle City Council.

Newcastle City Futures 2065 has an active legacy as it has become an Innovate UK Urban Living Partnership pilot project and received £1.2m in funding to develop new initiatives for Newcastle.

CASE STUDY THREE: MAGNETIC SOUTH

Following the major earthquakes in Christchurch and Canterbury, New Zealand in 2010 and early 2011, Strategic Foresight worked in partnership with Landcare Research, Christchurch City Council and the Institute for the Future to run the Magnetic South Foresight Engine game. Strategic Foresight realised people wanted to focus on restoring what was lost in the earthquake but saw an opportunity to help people think about the future 10 years from that time.

Magnetic South became one of a series of Christchurch City Council-supported public engagement activities and looked to solve the long-term future of the city after the 2011 earthquake. The project used the Foresight Engine, a platform for engaging people in rapid conversation about pressing issues of the future.

The engine enabled a huge number of players interact with one another within a virtual world.

This games process was run by the Institute of the Future and played with nearly 1,000 people over a two-day period. Participants generated cards, ideas and strategies for rebuilding the city, with 8,889 micro-forecasts.

The project was a success, as the games seemed to encourage those who had survived the Christchurch earthquake to have positive thoughts, fun and an interactive approach. Engagement was rich and deep as support networks and connections were generated. Magnetic South allowed people the space to have their own ideas about what could be possible in the future.

The results from the games were given to the city council and went into a prototype to redesign the city before central Government took over the rebuilding process.