From What If to What Next

100 - In conversation with Walidah Imarisha.

14 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

And here we are. Episode 100. What a journey! Thank you so much for being a part of it with me. I could not be more delighted by today's guest, who I ...

99 - What if invitations to participate in civic life were creative and caring?

15 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

On this, our 99th episode of ‘From What If to What Next’, we have the first episode in which both guests actually joined my physically in the stud...

98 - What if we deeply listened to the natural world?

01 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

You're in for a bit of a treat here. In today's episode things are a little bit different: you usual Producer is your host, you usual host is a guest,...

97 - What if there was an alternative to capitalism, after all?

11 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today's episode is a beauty. It brings together Dr. Lyla June Johnston, an Indigenous musician, scholar, and community organizer of Diné (Navajo), Ts...

96 - What if we had a Right to Roam?

04 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Here in the UK, the Right to Roam has been pushed into the news headlines by the activities of Dartmoor landowner Alexander Darwall, who just announce...

95 - What if we became better Protopians?

26 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Better what, I hear you ask? You're in for a treat as I introduce you to futurist and futures designer Monika Bielskyte. She is one of the world's bol...

94 - What if compassion could heal society?

19 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Season's greetings to you! Here is your special Christmas day episode, appropriately focusing on the theme of compassion. Our guests are Jared Seide a...

93 - What if we could reimagine the world in bioregions?

28 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

As you'll have spotted by now, we're never ones to shy away from asking a good big bold What If question. This week we are diving into the question of...

92 - What if we decolonised the ecological sector?

21 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The British Ecological Society’s REED Ecological Network (REED standing for Racial and Ethnic Equality and Diversity) was formed due to the very low...

91 - What if we could train our imagination to reimagine change?

14 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Jonathan Rhodes and Joanna Grover recently wrote a great book called 'The Choice Point' and work together as Imagery Coaching. They work with a wide r...

90 - In conversation with Aisha Shillingford

07 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

On some of our 'decade' episodes (well, 50 and 80 anyway) we changed from our usual two guest format to an in-depth conversation with someone who repr...

89 - What if everyone had the inner skills to navigate the climate crisis?

31 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This week I'm joined by Aimee Lewis Reau and LaUra Schmidt, authors of 'How to Live in a Chaotic Climate: 10 Steps to Reconnect with Ourselves, Our Co...

88 - What if workers were in charge of the energy transition?

24 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This is a wonderful conversation. It's a deep dive into a powerful reimagining of who our energy system serves, and what it might look like. My two gu...

87 - What if fungi saved the world?

02 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Welcome to one of those episodes of From What If to What Next that really gets under your skin. We are going to step out of our everyday commonplace u...

85 - What if our visionaries and activists were properly resourced?

25 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This week's episode is just delightful. Meet Leah Black, currently leading the development of the new Regenerative Futures Fund for Edinburgh, and Sha...

86 - What if care, cooperation, kinship and collective wellbeing were the ethics we lived by?

25 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

 When it comes to work that celebrates the radical imagination, Jayna Brown's recent book Black Utopias: Speculative Life and the Music of Other Worl...

84 - What if we had a Seaweed Revolution?

20 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

As soon as I started reading 'The Seaweed Revolution' by Vincent Doumeizel, I knew we would have to do an episode of this podcast about seaweed! It is...

83 - What if we gave Nature rights?

28 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This is a rather special episode, our first recorded in front of an actual audience! Recorded live at the wonderful Timber Festival, this episode take...

82 - What if we loved politicians?

21 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Never let it be said on this podcast that we shy away from the big questions! I loved this conversation so much, it was one of those conversations tha...

81 - What if we lived in a healthy human culture?

14 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This week we are exploring how we do things, rather than what we do. We are diving into the concept of 'healthy human cultures' and how to build them....

80 - In conversation with Otto Scharmer

07 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s podcast was recorded live in Paris, in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower. As part of the wonderful ChangeNOW festival in the Grand Palais Ephé...

79 - What if sports could accelerate the shift to a low carbon future?

31 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

You’re in for a treat this week. I so enjoyed this conversation. In this episode I was joined by Laura Baldwin, British Olympic sailor, Transition a...

78 - What If biodiversity bounced back?

29 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The diversity of the natural world is declining at a rapid rate, and has been for many decades. Many people present that as being an inevitability, a ...

77 - In conversation with Mariame Kaba

16 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

We're back, and boy oh boy are you in for a treat. Since Episode One there were two guests I most wanted to have on this podcast. The first, adrienne ...

76 - What If cutting our individual carbon use went viral?

01 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Recent research, entitled The Future of Consumption in an 1.5°C World, carried out by the University of Leeds, C40 Cities and Arup, powerfully shows ...

75 - What if we distributed power differently in our organisations?

24 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This was such a beautiful conversation to be part of, with two old friends, and a story that I play at least a small role in. In 2015, Transition Netw...

74 - What if we decolonised economics?

17 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

We're never one to shy away from the big questions, and to dive deep into the remarkable and far more delightful world that could yet be created if we...

73 - What if education took place in nature?

10 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

If you were one of those kids in school who stared out of the window most of the time, this episode is for you. I'm joined by Kwesia X, aka City Girl ...

72 - What if we shifted to a not-for-profit economy?

04 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Today's episode brings a big idea, like a really BIG idea, one that you may initially need to suspend disbelief in order to settle into but which, hop...

71 - What if imagination was treasured as a central part of childhood?

19 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This week I'm joined by two of the greatest practitioners of the imagination that I know. Dr. Penny A Hay is an artist, educator and researcher, Reade...

70 - What if we all became better Utopians?

12 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This episode of 'From What If to What Next' focuses on Utopianism, on our ability to imagine better futures. This is such an amazing conversation with...

69 - What if every institution ran Imagination Activist training?

05 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

It's time for our Christmas special. We wanted to leave 2022 on a high, with a hugely inspirational story of imagination in action, of imagination goi...

68 - What if the advertising industry helped create a positive future for humanity?

29 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The advertising industry is one of the key things driving the levels of consumption that are pushing us towards climate breakdown. But there are peopl...

67 - What if we eradicated homelessness?

26 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This is not a podcast that shies away from the big and important What If questions, and today we're reaching out for one of the big ones of our time. ...

66 - What if beavers were allowed to reshape our world?

19 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

You're in for such a treat. Today's episode is about beavers, and what the future would look like if we allowed them to reshape the world in the way t...

65 - What if faith communities were a critical part of the emerging imagination infrastructure?

05 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Today's episode was recorded live at the BTS Centre's Convocation 2022, an online event with the theme of 'Imagination and Collective Liberation for a...

64 -  What if the Black Fantastic reshaped the world?

21 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This week's episode is such a treat. Over the summer I devoured Ekow Eshun's amazing book 'In the Black Fantastic', the catalogue of the exhibition of...

63 - What if disability justice, deep inclusion and liberation were centred in healthcare, education and the arts?

17 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

I think you are really going to enjoy this one. My reading over the summer holidays was Shayda Kafai’s brilliant book ‘Crip Kinship: The Disabilit...

62 - What if land were owned and managed for the common good?

24 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Just 1% of the population own half the land in England, and citizens have a Right to Roam over only 8% of its surface. This deliberate exclusion has m...

61 - In conversation with Cyril Dion

10 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s podcast is something a little different. We’re departing from our usual format a little to spend some time in deeper conversation with one...

60 - What if we reimagined theatre to be in service to the climate emergency?

26 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Today's episode is really rather beautiful, with Chloe Naldrett and David Micklem exploring the role of theatre in the great transition that lies ahea...

59 - What if the majority of news was positive news?

15 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

It's hardly a surprise that we struggle to hold onto hope and optimism given that the news we receive every day is filled with so much misery, appalli...

58 - What if creative learning was considered a lifelong practice?

29 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

I'm posting this on the hottest day ever recorded in the UK. If we ever needed imaginative thinking about how to tackle the climate and ecological eme...

57 - What if energy generation was in community hands?

22 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

As the cost of living crisis impacts more and more people, and energy security becomes something far more widely discussed than it was 10 years ago, h...

56 - What if there were no borders?

15 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In the light of the UK government's recent appalling proposed deportation of asylum seekers to Rwanda and their new policy to electronically tag every...

55 - What if we could find the humour in climate change?

04 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

An odd question perhaps... yet in the hands of our guests, Belina Raffy and Sam Knights, a powerful and pertinent one. What if we were to harness the ...

54 - What if bread could unlock social transformation?

20 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Welcome to our 54th episode, our 54th journey into the future that is still possible, just.  But before I tell you more, a suggestion, as you'll hear...

53 - What if the world went vegan?

06 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Here at 'From What If to What Next' we don't shy away from the big questions of our times! Today we are diving deep into the question of what we eat. ...

52 - What if our economy truly prioritised health?

23 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Welcome to Episode 52, different from the episode we advertised, a bit of a mix up at What If Towers, but it means some of you now know the subject of...

51 - What if ending male violence was men's work?

14 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We are joined by two amazing guests to discuss a vitally important issue. Ben Hurst of Beyond Equality and Graham Goulden of Cultivating Minds UK join...

50 - In conversation with adrienne maree brown

25 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Episode 50. That's something worth celebrating! And what a beautiful way to celebrate it, by interviewing the person I've wanted on this podcast since...

49 - What if we were citizens rather than consumers?

11 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Today's episode is one of my favourites so far, with two amazing guests. It was inspired by one of our guests, Jon Alexander's new book 'Citizens: why...

48 - What if rooftop gardening covered our cities' roofs?

06 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

When it comes to building food security, biodiversity, employment, spaces that are good for mental health, and so much more besides, we are missing a ...

47 - What if we addressed the mental health crisis imaginatively?

06 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

You're going to enjoy this one. This week we're talking about mental health, and how different the world would be if we were to take a very different ...

46 - What if printmaking could inspire social change?

28 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This week this podcast joins you with printing ink on its hands and under its fingernails . We're talking about printmaking and its potential to unlea...

45 - What if we redesigned cities based on children’s needs?

14 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Meet Tim Gill and Alice Ferguson of Playing Out, brilliant guests for a vital discussion. Today we're talking about kids, and play and about the place...

44 - What if we could end the climate crisis in one generation?

31 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We start this year with a fantastic episode and a really important question. What if we were to implement every solution that we already know exists i...

43 - What if visible mending became the new fast fashion?

17 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Although not planned as some kind of 'Christmas Special', that's kind of what this episode is, so hopefully it will give you the opportunity to treat ...

42 - What if we are standing on the cusp of an Imagination Age?

11 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The IPCC report that came out in mid-2021 said “unless there are immediate, rapid and large-scale reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, limiting w...

41 - What if we reclaimed our public spaces from advertising?

20 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Powerful psychology is used to convince us, often subliminally, that we want and need things we previously never knew even existed. This is especially...

40 - What if Afrofuturism could teach the world about the power of what if?

06 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

I'm not going to say much about this episode, other than that it's incredible. We are exploring Afrofuturism, which has been variously described as “...

39 - What if the Leadership Team for COP26 Were 50% Women?

29 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The world’s governments will be coming together for 2 weeks to, hopefully, reach some kind of binding agreement that might give the world at least a...

38 - What if every Place Had a Thriving Social Economy?

22 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Everywhere, where you live included, has a patchwork of organisations of different sizes who are doing business and making things happen in a way that...

37 - What if the Bugs Bounced Back?

15 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The decline of insect populations around the world has been nothing short of terrifying. Last year I visited a school in an intensive wine-producing r...

36 - What if Activists Paid Attention to their own Development as well as the Problems of the World?

08 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Today we bring together Anthea Lawson, author of the fabulous new book 'The Entangled Activist' and Alastair McIntosh, author of 'Soul and Soil' and '...

35 - What if Care Work Was Valued

25 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s episode of From What If to What Next is about care. Care has been very much on our minds of recent. COVID has highlighted how vitally import...

34 - What if Young People Reimagined the School System

18 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

You are in for such a treat. This is one of the most thought-provoking and inspiring episodes of this podcast yet. It was my huge honour to be joined ...

33 - What if the Future of Travel in Cities was on Two Wheels rather than Four?

11 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Here is the perfect accompaniment to the long summer days. Or the deluge. Or perhaps a bit of both. Today we are talking about travel. As many cities ...

32 - What if the Black Imagination were Valued as it Should Be

16 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Firstly, sorry I'm late posting this. I was on a clifftop in Cornwall and the sun was shining and so it took me a while to get home! But, I must say t...

31 - What if the Future was Non-Binary

02 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This is such an incredible episode. One of those ones I had to go off and sit under a tree afterwards to absorb. Today we talk about gender. I grew up...

30 - What if the Future was well Facilitated

19 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Episode Thirty. Wow. Whoever thought we'd get this far? Thank you so much for your support in making that possible. We have a delicious episode to mar...

29 - What if we Mastered the Art of Time Travel?

05 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

If you had a Time Machine, which year would you set the dial to? This episode is about time travel. More specifically, it is about using imaginary tim...

28 - What if we redesigned the operating system of our entire civilisation?

21 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The time for imagining that change happens in small, incremental steps is now way behind us. As Naomi Klein says, "there are no non-radical solutions ...

27 - What if we all Stopped Flying?

07 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This new episode, one of my favourite so far, comes with a challenge. Can you listen to it and not reimagine your own relationship with flying or, as ...

26 - What if we could Live better in a Post-growth Economy?

05 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

These days of COVID have shown us that extraordinary profound reimagining of many aspects of society are entirely possible. Might this be the time to ...

25 - What if we Built an Imagination Infrastructure?

03 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Let’s imagine, and this takes quite a leap in Britain in 2021 I’ll grant you, but stay with me, that we had a government who recognised that we ar...

24 - What if We Read more Books?

24 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

When was the last time you read a book cover to cover? And if you are still able to do this, do you feel you read in the same way you did, say, 20 yea...

23: What if Street Art could Transform the World?

09 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Today we are looking at street art. Street art has stood alongside the fight for climate justice, the Black Lives Matter revolution, and pretty much e...

22 - What if we Learned to Embrace Failure?

07 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This week we are exploring failure. More precisely, what if we were able to create a culture in which failure is embraced, celebrated even, rather tha...

21 - What if Dynasties of Private Wealth Reimagined Their Relationship to Money?

06 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

It was recently announced that Chuck Feeney, the Irish American former airport duty free shopping entrepreneur who was worth $8bn, had, at the age of ...

20 - What if we Addressed the Trauma that Lies Beneath the World's Problems?

05 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Today we are exploring the question of trauma, and I must confess that recording this conversation rather blew my mind, as it will no doubt blow yours...

19 - What if We Rewrote the National Curriculum Based on Permaculture Principles?

12 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

By now, in this journey into 'From What If to What Next', it is clear that one of the key things in our world in 2021 that needs reimagining is our ed...

18 - What if a Revolution in Relation to Land Unlocked a Revolution of the Imagination?

29 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Our far-reaching conversation, which could have gone on for hours, explores our relationship with land, and how a reimagining of that could unlock so ...

17 - What if Indigenous Wisdom Could Save the World?

15 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Of all the 17 episodes of this podcast so far, this is the one that I had to go off somewhere quiet afterwards for a while to digest. It is a very pow...

16 - What if We Took Play Seriously?

01 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Play is a devalued aspect of both childhood and adulthood which has been declining now for decades, and its decline has had many knock-on effects acro...

15 - What if We Learned to Love Weeds?

15 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

During the first Coronavirus lockdown in the UK, a strange phenomenon was seen in towns and cities across the country. As councils became unable, or u...

14 - What if We Were to Respond to the Debt Crisis with Art and Playfulness?

02 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

One of the things we love most here at 'From What If to What Next' is stories of people bringing imagination to their activism, of impactful, thought-...

13 - What If Governments Factored Future Generations Into Law and Policy?

04 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We live in a world where so much political decision-making seems to be based on short-term thinking, the next opinion poll, next quarter, next electio...

12 - What If Criminal Justice Resources Were Instead Invested Into Communities of Colour?

21 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In the US, as elsewhere, vast amounts of money are poured into mass incarceration and brutal and violent policing. What if instead that money was inve...

11 - What If We Had The Skills and Abilities To Talk To Decision Makers?

07 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

So many of those who listen to this podcast are trying, in one way or another, to bring about change in the world. Whether it is the more confrontatio...

10 - What If We Decolonised Education?

01 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The uprising of Black Lives Matter and other organisations have led to many calls for the decolonisation of education at every level. But what does it...

9 - What If We Lived In A Wellbeing Economy?

01 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Here is Episode Nine. Our question this time was slightly adapted from one sent in by subscriber Pamela Barnes. As the world attempts to claw its way ...

8 - What If Communities Had Spaces Where They Could Come Together To Imagine?

01 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode we are exploring a question sent in by subscriber Joy Cherkaoui. One of the things a future in which imagination is able to flourish w...

7 - What If Every City Used Doughnut Economics?

31 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Doughnut Economics is rapidly moving from the fringe to the mainstream. Amsterdam in Holland was recently confirmed as the first ‘Doughnut City’, ...

6 - What If Imagination Were a Universal Basic Right?

31 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Allow me to present one of my very favourite episodes of ‘From What If to What Next’ thus far. The question we explore in this episode is ‘What ...

5 -What If We Treated People At The End Of Their Lives With The Same Reverence, Love, and Care As We Do At The Beginning?

31 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

As we start, hopefully, to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, which has disproportionately affected older people, many people have experienced an end ...

4 - What if Doctors' Surgeries Became Catalysts for Transition?

20 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In our fourth episode, we bring together two of the UK's most pioneering doctors to explore what a very different future for healthcare could be like....

3 - What If Cities Intentionally Relocalised Their Food Production?

20 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In this third episode of 'From What If to What Next', we're talking about food. Taking a question from Patreon subscriber Tony Buck, we are asking "Wh...

2 - What if a Universal Basic Income Sparked a Revival of the Imagination?

20 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In this podcast, we’re talking about Universal Basic Income with Alexis Frasz, researcher and cultural strategist with Helicon Collaborative, and ...

1 - What If Birdsong Drowned Out the Traffic?

20 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In this first episode, we meet singer, curator, event creator and lover of birdsong Sam Lee, speaking to us direct from a birdsong-filled woodland cle...