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The way we work is changing forever. A host of technologies-from automation to digital platforms for coordination of tasks-are reinventing not just what people do to earn a living but at a much deeper level how we organize to create value. The landscape of labor economics is in upheaval. Solutions won't come from any one agency, discipline, or company. It will take collaboration, broad public engagement, smart policy, and an openness to reinventing old economic models. The IFTF Workable Futures Initiative is a call-to-action for policymakers, platform developers, corporate strategists, activists, and of course other workers of all kinds, to join us in blueprinting these positive platforms for the future of work. The time is now to grapple with the challenges ahead, develop sustainable solutions, and create a future of work that is workable for everyone.

Digital transformation is a multi-disciplinary topic-perhaps one of the most complex and confusing of our time. The purpose of this film is to make digital transformation easier to understand and start a conversation about what kind of digital future we actually want. Is the future complicated and inevitable, or can each of us create the future they envision? Technology is a curse and a blessing, but this depends on each of us thinking about the future in a constructive but critical way. 

Forum for the Future is a non-profit organisation working globally with business and government to create a sustainable future. We have 15 years' experience inspiring new thinking, building creative partnerships and developing practical innovations to change our world. We aim to transform the critical systems that we all depend on, such as food, energy and finance, to make them fit for the challenges of the 21st century.

Our vision at Future.ly is to make the cutting edge standard, visualize future possibilities and map the players, influence factors and dynamics in the innovation space around the world. Ranging from tracking the Innovators, the institution or startups that they work in, the technologies that they are working on to the invisible characteristics that connect them. We aggregate relevant data sources to monitor dynamics and surface trends within different areas and enable the visual exploration of this data.

Our vision at Future.ly is to make the cutting edge standard, visualize future possibilities and map the players, influence factors and dynamics in the innovation space around the world. Ranging from tracking the Innovators, the institution or startups that they work in, the technologies that they are working on to the invisible characteristics that connect them. We aggregate relevant data sources to monitor dynamics and surface trends within different areas and enable the visual exploration of this data.

Forum for the Future US brings all of Forum's system innovation, futures and sustainable business tools and expertise to solve sustainability challenges across North America. Working with major businesses including Target, Walmart and McDonald's, smaller companies like Method and Annie's, and NGOs such as The Rainforest Alliance, we have helped reshape the business models and convene the coalitions capable of creating lasting change. We believe that only by keeping a keen eye on what the future might hold can we make sound decisions for the longer term. We also believe that the key systems that we rely on, like food and energy, are broken and in need of complete transformation. Forum equips its Network members with the knowledge, training and practical tools to innovate. We provide them with a platform for collaboration where they can test solutions and make their successes bigger and better.

Local Futures works to renew ecological, social and spiritual well-being by promoting a systemic shift towards economic localization. A pioneer of the new economy movement, Local Futures has been raising awareness for four decades about the need to shift direction - away from dependence on global monopolies, and towards decentralized, regional economies.

Introducing Future Search NetworkFuture Search Network is a collaboration of hundreds of dedicated volunteers worldwide providing Future Search conferences as a public service. We serve communities, NGO's, and other non-profits for whatever people can afford. Our misson is to help communities everywhere become more open, supportive, equitable and sustainable. We also work with for-profit organizations who share these values, charging standard fees. We are a cross-cultural network, speaking many languages. Our members live in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and North and South America.

The School has been initiated and nurtured by Forum for the Future, with the support of multiple partners. We have the ambition to serve the emerging field of systems change, as a vehicle for connecting and amplifying spheres of learning and practice, and as a case study of an initiative grown explicitly as a system change endeavour. To do this we have used a methodological framework developed by Anna Birney, Director of the School and author of Cultivating System Change: A Practitioner's Companion (2014). This framework suggests key capabilities for bringing about system change for a sustainable future can be divided into five core areas (read more here on our blog) which underpin our curriculum and our everyday practice.

This eventually will lead to a new concept, "mobile networked governance." Community leaders will develop knowledge-connection processes that harness the vast resources of disparate community members. We'll soon see a shift from radical individualism to many new levels of deep collaboration. Ultimately, this mobile networked governance will be transformational, creating a new decision-making structure that engages as many people in the community as are interested.

"APPA can be applied in a variety of contexts and with a wide range of participants. Its primary value lies in its emphasis as a process of lasting engagement and dialogue among stakeholders. APPA combines the framework of Appreciative Inquiry and the tools of Participatory Learning and Action (PLA). Its objective is to find and emphasise the positive, successes and strengths as a means to empower communities, groups and organisations to plan and manage development and conservation. [It] uses the cycle of the 4D�s: Discovery, the act of appreciation: the best of what is and what gives life to the community, group or organisation; Dream, envisioning and impact: what might be, creating a positive image of a preferred future; Design, co-constructing the desired future: what should the ideal be, a process of dialogue, consensus and further inquiry; Delivery, sustaining: how to empower, learn, adjust and sustain." (Source: PPM&E Resource Portal)

Using everything from modern technologies like the web and social media to traditional grassroots communication we intend to reach people on a worldwide scale. We will ask everyone, at every level of society, to submit their visions for a positive future. From solutions addressing poverty and injustice to strategies for creating sustainable and environmentally responsible communities, we will gather ideas internationally. But we won't stop here.

The necessity of human ingenuity and inventiveness is undisputed. And as we look forward to a future of rapid technological and social change, it's clear that a creativity deficit would have sweeping consequences. We need to nurture the skills that will help future generations solve 21st century problems.

Community Heart & SoulTM reconnects people with what they love most about their town and translates those personal and emotional connections into a blueprint that serves as the foundation for future community decisions. It's a barn-raising approach to community planning and development designed to increase participation in local decision-making and empower residents to shape the future of their communities in a way that upholds the unique character of each place.

Future Now pushes progress toward America's Goals, with a report card on each state and innovative cost-effective strategies to impact legislators, the media, partner organizations and the public.

It is time for a profound shift. As we experience the effects of a global economic system that values profit and endless growth over the welfare of humans and the biosphere, we believe that people are more ready than ever to usher in something radically different. We are reconnecting to our hearts, to our communities, and to the jusearth, and committing to building a future that works for all.  A new system must be built from the bottom up, person by person, place by place, working together for the common good. We believe that change is inevitable, but justice requires conscious work. We stand for wise choices as we navigate the future, and we see a thriving network of people, working collaboratively, as the path to a regenerative economy and a more just society.

LA2050 is a community-owned mechanism to create a shared vision of success for Los Angeles in 2050 and to track progress toward that vision. Spearheaded by the Goldhirsh Foundation, LA2050 has looked at the health of the region along well-defined indicators, and made informed projections about where we'll be in the year 2050 if we continue on this current path.

There are shocking statistics aplenty. Here is one: in 1995, the average house in London cost around four times the average salary. Today, it costs 12 times the average salary. In Europe, there are only two major cities-Athens and Manchester-where more than half the residents think housing is affordable. Expensive housing means less money in your pocket, a longer commute from further away, a constant pressure pushing the standard of living down towards mere subsistence. And for cities, it means the emergence of financially defined ghettos, where previously diverse neighborhoods become inhabited solely by the rich. At its worst, this becomes the Paris problem: a rich but sterile center encircled by a ring of poverty and disadvantage that nurtures terrorism and can explode into appalling violence.

Cristina Ampatzidou, editor-in-chief of Amateur Cities, a "city-making" publishing platform in Rotterdam: "It is often said that great cities survived great empires. So it is not unrealistic to think of cities as discrete entities that compete and collaborate with each other, independently from the states to which they belong."

Rolling along: Bicycles, mobility, and the future of cities http://ift.tt/2aV4WA2