Creativity and Futures Studies

Creativity Studies and Futures Studies are both forward-looking disciplines, projecting onto possible futures the effects of human thinking, decision making, and actions. Given the level of uncertainty and pace of change in our society, it is apparent that developing competence in both Creativity Studies and Futures Studies is key at all levels of education and practice. In this chapter, the potential for cross-pollination between these two important fields is investigated. After a brief introduction about forecast, foresight, and anticipation in Futures Studies, the main elements of Creativity Studies are addressed. The dynamic definition of creativity and the ensuing dynamic creativity framework are described, to show how the center of attention must be the creative process, here modeled according to the DA VINCI model and method. Commonalities and differences between creativity and anticipation are reviewed. Further, it is shown that competence in creativity can help the futurist in his/her application of foresight methodologies. In a dual and complementary way, competence in foresight and anticipation is shown to be a key in all of the mental states described within the DA VINCI model. It is believed that these two disciplinary fields should build a strong mutual connection in both theoretical development and practical exercise. Given that creativity is a fundamentally a future-oriented phenomenon, and that foresight is fundamentally a creative task, it is actually surprising that Creativity Studies and Futures Studies have so far lived quite separate lives.