Imagination Activism

Phoebe Tickell is a visionary systems thinker, social entrepreneur and renegade scientist working at the intersection of regenerative design, imagination, and systems change. With a background in biological sciences and a deep understanding of complex systems, she helps organisations and communities develop new ways of thinking and acting in response to today’s global challenges.

She is the founder of Moral Imaginations, a pioneering organisation that tackles the deeper drivers of the crises we see using collective imagination. In her work imagination serves as a tool to foster empathy, ethical action, and systemic transformation. Through innovative methods and practices, Moral Imaginations helps individuals and groups connect with future generations, other species, and the ecosystems we are a part of, and ‘widen the circle of concern’, to expand how we think about the present and the future. Her work is driven by the belief that true transformation begins when we dare to imagine radically different futures and change the way we see the world. As she says, ‘we don’t have resource problems, we have imagination problems’.

Phoebe Tickell joined us for the opening of Thoravej 29 where she kicked off the day with a provocation from the future. She took part in the opening panel debate and facilitated a workshop on how imagination can be not just a tool for fantasy, but a radical approach to change. This brief interview offers a glimpse into her approach and the ideas that influence her work.

Your work spans systems change, imagination activism, and collective capacity building. How do you describe what you do to someone unfamiliar with these ideas?

My work centers around the concept of imagination activism. It's about helping to expand people's imagination of how futures could be and strengthening their moral conviction of how they wish they could be. In our society, for example through the education system, through our workplaces, through decreasing free time, increasing digital dependency, there's less and less time to allow ourselves to imagine and explore different futures. There is less time to imagine how things could be different and take on different perspectives and shift worldviews of where we are right now as a society, the way we relate to each other, nature, to the future, to what we value, desire, hope for and dare to imagine for the future. Our behaviour needs to change and when we change our perception through our imagination, we change action and behaviour. So, imagination is upstream of changing behaviour, so by starting there to shift our perception of the world –it’s a way to create systems change on a large scale. As the writer Don Delilo famously said, “Longing on a large scale is what makes history.”

Imagination plays a key role in your work and practice. How do you help organizations or individuals turn visionary ideas into concrete action? 

We publish articles and publications. We also create tools and practices that are available online e.g., videos and exercises that people can download or use themselves. We work with groups and organizations to run programmes, workshops, and training sessions. We have worked with more than 50 organizations over the last four years ranging from local councils to government agencies to larger corporations. The Moral Imagination approach has been adopted by organisations like Camden Council, IKEA, and London Marathon to shift mindsets and drive systemic change. We also train leaders in organizations in this method, this approach of leading and thinking and provide them with tools and practices that they can bring into their everyday work. Lastly, we also engage in partnerships and projects to create installations and immersive experiences, which can serve as an intervention to shift perspectives and allow for a different kind of conversation – and encourage radical action. 

Last year, we created an immersive installation for London Marathon stakeholders who run the various marathons and organize mass participation events around the world. Through an immersive experience they time travelled to the future, and had a conversation with a future generation person, visiting alternative futures – one more dystopian, another more regenerative. It ended with a conversation where they made commitments to how they pledge to contribute to make the regenerative future happen through their organisation, and the London Marathon has been checking in with them to hold them to account. 

You work with the idea of "moral imagination." What does that mean in practice, and how can we cultivate it in everyday life?

Moral imagination is a concept that has been around for at least 300 years, carried forward by philosophers, cognitive scientists and thinkers such as Edmund Burke, Jean Paul Lederach and Mark Johnson. My work expands their definitions to include a widening circle of ecology and time – to include other species and future generations. I define moral imagination as imagination on behalf of the welfare of the whole. But why talk about moral imagination, and not just imagination itself? When we talk about imagination it’s important to remember it’s not always purely a positive thing. You can have a maladaptive imagination and the behaviours we see today in many powerful politicians, are actually highly imaginative, but they’re not imaginative in service of the whole or in service of the flourishing of humanity. The idea behind moral imagination is that it brings the whole of human society, nature, and future generations into consideration. It is about widening the circle of concern and bringing into sharp focus what we, as a collective society, think is valuable and important.

The way you can cultivate it in everyday life is to bring questions into your work and life, such as: How are my actions serving future generations? How is my work benefiting people who are not yet born? What can I do to represent the interests of nature in my practice and in decision making? How can I consider people outside of my immediate circle as part of my responsibility? These are some of the things you can do to cultivate these ideas and start envisioning a future that works for everyone.

Many people today feel overwhelmed by the complexity of global challenges. What’s one practice or mindset shift that can help people move from paralysis to meaningful action?

I find that when I am overwhelmed in the present or about the future, I like to look to the past and reflect on the large moments in history where things were dark or difficult and see how during those times people came together. Whether it’s the suffragette movement, or the civil rights movement, it always seemed impossible until change happened. How they bolstered their motivation, their courage, and their conviction to keep on taking it one step after the other for what is right, what is important and true. And so, if you're feeling despair about the future, it's important to remember that the future is unwritten and everything can change very, very quickly. It's like an iceberg that suddenly flips. Nothing happens for a long time, and people work and organise, and suddenly things change.

I think it is important in these times to look at what you can do locally, and what you can do in your immediate surroundings. Thinking about huge concepts and ideas can become quite abstract, but the way we create the future is by taking thousands of small steps with people in our communities and with our friends, colleagues, and allies.

To dive deeper into Phoebe Tickell’s work and explore the transformative power of imagination, visit her website for insights into her projects, writings, and speaking engagements. You can also explore Moral Imaginations, the pioneering organization she founded, which tackles the deeper drivers of the polycrisis through collective imagination.