Room 2050 – A Glimpse into a Sustainable Future

People

May 22

Written By Iines Reinikainen

Project type: Futures Prototyping
Tags: Participatory futures, futures thinking, Experiential Design, Transition Pathways, Sustainable Development
Client: Finnish Expert Panel for Sustainable Development ( Kestävyyspaneeli)

What if we could experience the future before it arrives?

What if we could feel what a sustainable life might be like in 2050?

What if we could turn distant scenarios into shared, embodied experiences?

These questions sparked our collaboration with the Finnish Expert Panel for Sustainable Development and laid the foundation for Room 2050, an immersive participatory futures experience at Helsinki’s Oodi Library, 25–26 May 2025.

*Room 2050*

Not just a static exhibit—a living prototype.

The challenge

Policymaking often struggles to connect emotionally with the public or translate complex sustainability goals into lived realities. The Finnish Expert Panel for Sustainable Development wanted to explore new, imaginative ways to engage citizens in long-term thinking—beyond reports and discussions. How could we co-create a compelling narrative about Finland’s sustainable future that inspires participation and deepens understanding?

Our Approach: Prototyping the Future in Three Phases

We used Falay’s Futures Prototyping Menu to design a three-phase process that integrated systems thinking, storytelling, and sensory experience:

1. Visioning the Transition

The project began with the research conducted by Demos Helsinki, which involved scanning existing images of the future and identifying critical gaps. As a result, they developed three positive and realistic images of the future for Finland in 2050 highlighting themes of The True-Cost Economy Planetary Rules and The Sustainability Awareness Revolution.

Building on this foundation, the Falay team facilitated a creative process to explore how these futures might emerge. Using the Berkana Two Loop Model, we mapped out a transition pathway story—a narrative journey that traces the shift from today's systems to the sustainable futures envisioned. This included imagining the dissolution of outdated structures, the emergence of pioneering practices, and the formation of new, regenerative ways of living.

We designed a 5 day interactive digital journey envisioning how transitions could unfold.

2. A Digital Voyage into the Future

To bring the vision to life, we designed a 5-day interactive digital journey, inviting members of the Finnish National Commission on Sustainable Development (Kestävän kehityksen toimikunta) to explore how the transition could unfold from a range of lived and professional perspectives. Through video storytelling and daily reflection prompts, participants engaged with the human side of transformation: shifting roles, new kinds of work, emotional responses, and unexpected ripple effects of systemic change. The inputs gathered during this process were critical. They revealed blind spots, challenged assumptions, and helped co-write the transition story with more nuance and diversity.

3. Room 2050: The Experiential Prototype

The final phase culminates in Room 2050—an immersive installation at Oodi that offers a sensory glimpse into everyday life in a sustainable Finland. Designed as a family’s living room in the year 2050, the space invites visitors to step into a future filled with tangible artifacts, ambient sounds, and traces of post-carbon life. It’s a place to sit, reflect, question, and respond.

We designed an immersive installation at Oodi, Helsinki that offers a sensory glimpse into everyday life in a sustainable Finland - in the form of a family’s living room in the year 2050.

The Outcome: A Public Dialogue with the Future

Room 2050 is not just a static exhibit—it’s a living prototype. Visitors are invited to leave feedback, contribute reflections, and voice hopes or hesitations. This input becomes part of a growing collective narrative that informs the Expert Panel’s work and pushes the boundaries of public engagement in sustainability transitions.

We hope this approach to experiential futures can travel beyond Oodi and inspire more communities, organizations, and policymakers to prototype the futures they want to create—with people at the heart of the process.