Design Ecological Citizenship Wellbeing

The paper introduces the Preferable Futures (PF) Deck, a wellbeing intervention and toolkit developed through a 'research-through-design' process. Positioned at the intersection of participatory design, futures thinking, and ecological citizenship, the deck aims to inspire place-based action for an ecologically ethical transition by recognizing the link between human and planetary health. The authors propose a 'post-participatory intervention' model where designers act as catalysts for community-led practices rather than mere facilitators of predefined projects. The toolkit is intended for use by community organizers, educators, and policy-adjacent actors to facilitate democratic and ecological transformation.

• The Preferable Futures (PF) Deck is a wellbeing intervention and toolkit designed to encourage reflection, imagination, and place-based action to support an ecologically ethical transition, based on the premise that planetary and human health are interconnected.
• The authors introduce a 'post-participatory intervention' methodology where designers serve as catalysts and conveners for community-led practices that can evolve beyond the initial design framework, rather than just facilitating participation in set projects.
• Testing of the PF Deck at the Royal College of Art, Falmouth University, and the London Design Festival showed it can facilitate systems literacy, values-based dialogue, and the co-design of civic futures focused on social and ecological flourishing.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (2026). Design Ecological Citizenship Wellbeing. https://www.sei.org/publications/design-ecological-citizenship-wellbeing/

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. Design Ecological Citizenship Wellbeing. 2026. https://www.sei.org/publications/design-ecological-citizenship-wellbeing/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=Design Ecological Citizenship Wellbeing |date=29 April 2026 |url=https://www.sei.org/publications/design-ecological-citizenship-wellbeing/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitute2026design, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{Design Ecological Citizenship Wellbeing}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2026}, month = apr, url = {https://www.sei.org/publications/design-ecological-citizenship-wellbeing/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }