Co-Creating Change: Artistic and Co-Creative Practices for Futures Literacy in the Context of Climate Transformation
Elke Zobl and Katharina Anzengruber are presenting at FUTURE EDUCATION Conference 2026: Interdisciplinary Research Perspectives, University of Graz, 1 September – 3 September 2026
In view of the profound and complex challenges societies are facing in the context of the climate crisis, far-reaching transformational processes are required Schneidewind, 2018; Lenton, 2019; Göpel, 2020). Against this backdrop, the question arises of how formal and non-formal educational spaces can be designed to foster futures literacy (UNESCO) among young people and to encourage and enable them to actively engage in transformation processes towards sustainable development. This contribution starts from the assumption that such educational aims require open experimental spaces in which learners can collectively explore, reflect upon and negotiate different visions of the future (Seitz, 2018). In this context, co-creation as well as artistic and creative approaches play a key role (Galafassi et al., 2018; Bentz & O’Brien, 2019).
The paper addresses two central research questions. First, how can co-creative processes be concretely designed in formal and non-formal educational contexts? Who collaborates with whom in these processes, in which constellations, and what kinds of challenges emerge? Second, what specific potentials do artistic and creative practices hold within co-creative processes, particularly with regard to the promotion of futures literacy?
The empirical basis of the study is twofold. On the one hand, the transdisciplinary project Co-CreART. Co-Creating Change! (2023–2027) serves as a qualitative case study for the analysis of co-creative educational processes. At the centre of the project is the CreART-Lab, a mobile, flexible and expandable learning laboratory that was developed through co-creative processes together with children and young people. The CreART-Lab integrates participatory formats, methods and materials, including experiments, workshops, games, interactive exhibitions and installations and so on. Artistic-creative and scientific-technical approaches are continuously intertwined. The educational activities focus on topics related to climate protection and sustainability such as circular economy, sustainable building and living, and climate-friendly mobility. Within this paper, the project functions as an analytical starting point for examining different forms and dynamics of co-creation in educational contexts.
On the other hand, the study draws on semi-structured interviews conducted with team members of further co-creation spaces in the field of climate and energy. The aim of these interviews was to capture different understandings, experiences and structural conditions of co-creative practice across contexts. The interviews were conducted digitally and analysed using qualitative content analysis following Mayring (2015). The focus of the analysis was on identifying shared patterns, recurring challenges and enabling conditions of co-creative processes.
The findings show that co-creation is realised in diverse ways across the educational contexts studied, particularly with regard to role distributions, decision-making structures and forms of participation. In the case of Co-CreART, different modes of co-creative collaboration were identified, ranging from open, highly process-oriented approaches to more structured and moderated formats. Co-creation thus emerges less as a clearly defined method and more as a relational process that is continuously negotiated within specific contexts.
Furthermore, the results indicate that co-creative processes at the intersection of art and science open up specific potentials for the development of futures literacy. Artistic approaches in particular foster the ability to imagine alternative futures, to tolerate ambiguity and to engage productively with uncertainty, while scientific perspectives contribute to contextualising, structuring and critically reflecting on these future imaginaries. At the same time, recurring challenges become visible, especially with regard to power relations and decision-making processes, institutional frameworks, and the balance between openness and necessary structure. Based on the analyses, enabling conditions for co-creative work in educational contexts were identified, including transparent role clarification, consciously designed spaces for negotiation, sufficient temporal resources, and the recognition of artistic practices as distinct forms of knowledge production. Overall, the paper contributes empirically grounded insights to current discussions on co-creation as an educational practice for fostering futures literacy in the context of societal transformation.
