From What If to What Next Rob Hopkins

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, Reader in Creative Teaching and Learning and Research Fellow Bath Spa University and Director of Research, House of Imagination. Signature projects include School Without Walls and Forest of Imagination. Ruth Sapsed is the Director of Cambridge Curiosity and Imagination (CCI), an arts and well-being charity that cultivates creative communities in Cambridgeshire and beyond. Their Artscapers report is essential reading for anyone interested in boosting the imaginations of young people, deeply inspiring.
This is a beautiful conversation, one that will open up all sorts of new thinking and insights. As always, do let me know what you think!

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 two people who know more about Utopias than the rest of us.
Alex Zamalin's work first came to my attention through his book 'Black Utopia', which I hugely recommend, and which introduced me to so many great ideas and thinkers. And more recently, Gregory Claeys' book 'Utopianism for a Dying Planet: Life after Consumerism', was similarly impactful, opening many new doors in my mind. To bring them together for a conversation? A dream come true. I hope you enjoy it. And I look forward to the podcasts of 2023 and where they might take us.

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 going big, one that will leave your mind fizzing with possibility. Recently, Camden Council in London became the first UK local authority to offer Imagination Activist training to its staff. 32 people took part over 8 weeks in a course designed to expand their imaginations and to make them ambassadors for the imagination within the organisation. It was a huge success.
In this podcast we speak to Phoebe Tickell, of Moral Imaginations, who designed and taught the course, and Georgia Gould, Leader of Camden Council, to find out more. We explore what if every organisation did the same? I hope you're going to love this. As always, do let me know what you think.

The advertising industry is one of the key things driving the levels of consumption that are pushing us towards climate breakdown. But there are people within the advertising industry who are trying to push things in a different direction.
In this episode, we speak to Lisa Merrick-Lawless of Purpose Distruptors, and strategy director and writer Michael Hines, to enter into a future in which the advertising sector has stepped up as a key driver in the change we need to see. As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts... In the podcast a couple of things are mentioned, the first is the Purpose Disruptors 'Advertised Emissions' report, and the second is their 'Good Life 2030 Documentary'.

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. Homelessness is one of scourges of our times, and is on the rise. But is it unavoidable and inevitable, or is it just the result of a series of decisions that could just as easily be made differently?
Our two amazing guests, Ana Rausch and Sam Tsemberis, are doing incredible work, which is already showing great results, using the 'Housing First' model. By the end of this podcast, you'll not only believe we can eradicate homelessness, but you'll also know how we can do that.

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 they are so incredibly good at. During the summer I went to Cornwall and fell in love with beavers, which inspired this episode. My two guests are Chris Jones, whose farm I visited to see the beavers, and Eva Bishop, whose work with the Beaver Trust is about promoting their wider re-introduction. This is such a beautiful conversation, and I challenge you not to also fall in love with beavers by the end of this episode.
 
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