Future Language for Collaborative
DesignTakashi Iba, Faculty of Policy Management, iba@sfc.keio.ac.jp

Abstract:
This study presents a new method—Future Language—for designing the future of place,community, and life. Future Language is a new kind of language comprising Future Words todiscuss visions of a desired future. Well-chosen Future Words capture what the desired
future achievement is, why it is important and how to achieve it. By using Future Words,
people can share their visions and collaborate towards a future defined by the words. This
paper illustrates how future languages are created in a “Future Mining Workshop.” In a
Future Mining Workshop, participants and generators, a special type of facilitator, first think
freely about a desirable future state and write their ideas on sticky notes. Next, they consider
present problems and difficulties and write those on sticky notes. After that, they develop
ideas to realize each desired state and finally, they produce a Future Word that expresses
the solutions to these problems. Although the process is designed to encourage divergent
thinking in the participants at every step, the process also functions unconsciously topromote convergent thinking. As a result, as non-professionals find it easy to participate increating a Future Language, workshops are lively and dynamic. In this paper, wedemonstrate four applications of this method: renovating a workplace, designing a new café
restaurant, developing a vision of a regional community, and involving children to make aplay park livelier. Results and feedback from these cases indicated that the method waspractical and effective. Note that this method is close to “Project Pattern Language” toascribe the desired patterns residents (or users) have, as in the patterns at the University ofOregon and the Eishin school, which were conducted by Christopher Alexander and his
collaborators. Based on these practices, the Future language method is structured as athinking and communication procedure, especially in a workshop style, to create newcommon vocabulary to design new things.

Keywords: Future Language; Future Mining, Project Pattern Language; Pattern Language;
Collaboration;

Page 1 of 25

1. Introduction
When thinking and talking about the future, we tend to use our existing vocabulary. However,as the future may refer to something that does not exist today, in principle, our current
vocabulary is insufficient to describe the future. This study proposes a method called Future
Language to build a new vocabulary to describe the future (Iba, 2015). Using Future Words,
people can share their visions and improve collaboration towards a future based on thesewords. The following sections indicate how future languages are created and demonstrate
several applications of this method.

2. Future Language
Future Language is a new kind of language that comprises Future Words, which enables us
to discuss a future vision (Figure 1). Future Words have three aspects: they represent
approaches to realize a vision, they represent solutions to current problems, and can beused when talking about the future (Figure 2). Therefore, people who create and share
Future Words can describe their visions, share them with others and construct prototypes.
The process of obtaining Future Words through dialogue is called Future Mining, whichusually occurs over a four-hour workshop. More than two facilitators called ‘generators’
facilitate the process and share their ideas with the participating group. The generator is arole played by the workshop organizers who have two functions to successfully create future
words: facilitation and creation (Akado et al., 2016; Nagai et al., 2016). Generators sit on one
side of a table or room with participants on the opposite side (Figure 3). As discussed later,
this arrangement enhances the flow of thoughts and actions from the past to the future using
sticky notes to capture the participants’ ideas.

Figure 1: Future Language: Future Words to Represent a Future Vision

Page 2 of 25

Figure 2: Three Aspects of Future Words: What, Why, and How

Figure 3: Workshop Setting for Future Mining

Figure 4: Future Mining Workshop on Pattern Community at PLoP2014 Conference

As an example, Figure 4 depicts a Future Mining workshop that was held to create a future
language for a project involving an academic community; the Pattern Language of Programs
Conference (PLoP2014); in the USA (Iba, 2014). Workshop participants were able tobroaden their image of a future pattern community and discover connections between thepresent and future.
As a way of conceiving the future in the present, Future Language is a sister to Pattern
Language (Alexander 1977, 1979)—a method of learning from the past. Future language is a
way to learn from a future vision in the present and create new vocabulary to design newthings that don’t yet exist. It is similar to “Project Language,” which seeks to ascribe desired
patterns on the residents (or users), such as the patterns at the university of Oregon andPage 3 of 25

Eishin school conducted by Christopher Alexander and his collaborators (Alexander, et al.,1975, 2012; Neis, 2015). Based on these practices, the Future language method is
structured as a thinking and communication procedure conducted primarily in a workshop
setting.

3. Process of Future Mining
The initial step in Future Mining Workshops is for participants and generators to think freely
about a desirable future state and write their ideas onto sticky notes. Then, they consider
present problems and difficulties and write those on sticky notes. After that, they develop
ideas to realize each desired state and finally, they produce a Future Word that offers
solutions to those problems.
Participants place each sticky note in a specified location on a shared table (Figure 5). They
write their visions of a more ideal future on yellow sticky notes and affix them to a location on
the table farthest from themselves—i.e., nearest the generators. They write down current
problems on blue sticky notes and affix them nearest to themselves on the table. The middleof the table is reserved for green sticky notes, on which participants write the means forachieving the future goal, and pink sticky notes on which they offer the solution. In this way,
the Future Mining Workshop produces a map spanning the present to future.

Figure 5: Configuration of Colored Sticky Notes during a Future Mining WorkshopMore concretely, the Future Mining process is as follows (Figure 6):
1.

Brainstorm a desired vision of the future (Figure 6-A)

2.

Brainstorm current problems (Figure 6-B)

3.

Group the current problems elements (Figure 6-C)

4.

Group the ideas for the visions of a more ideal future

Page 4 of 25

5.

Connect the current problem groups to the visions of the future groups (Figure 6-D)

6. Brainstorm solutions to the problems and methods for achieving the future vision(Figure 6-E)
7.

Brainstorm a name (Future Word) for the idea (Figure 6-F)

Each Future Word created during a Future Mining Workshop encompasses all threeconnected elements (Figure 7). The process is designed to encourage participants to use
divergent thinking so as to promote convergent thinking. As a result, non-professionals find it
easy to participate in creating a Future Language, so workshops are lively.

A

B

C

D

E

F

Figure 6: Future Mining Process

Page 5 of 25

Figure 7: The Three connected elements of Future Words: What, How, and Why

4. Applications of the Future Language Method
This section presents four case studies in which the Future Language Method was used to;renovate a workplace, design a new café restaurant, develop a future vision of a regional
community, and engage children to make a play park more alive.

4.1. Renovating a workplace
Our first Future Language case study involves the renovating and enlivening of a workplace;the offices of UDS Ltd.—a Japanese company that supports community development by
designing houses, offices and hotels (Honda, et al., 2015). Figure 8 shows their former office.
In March 2014, a Future Language Workshop was held with 30 employees from UDS Ltd.
(Figure 9). In the workshop, 30 future words were generated such as “Non-Pressure Café”
for “We want a space where there are no pressures from our boss” and “I want to work with afeeling that it is easy to get together, like in a music, art, or physical education class.” After
creating their Future Words, participants used them in a subsequent session to discuss new
ideas (Figure 10).
To create Future Words, workers considered and discussed what the desired workplaceshould be like, why these elements were desirable and how to achieve it. This process madeit possible for co-workers to mine and share feelings and to fabricate solutions by applying a
Future Word that could help define the characteristics of an actual space or design. Thus, bycollaboratively creating and using Future Language, participants were able to compose their
desired workplace.
During an Idea Competition session after the workshop (Figure 11), participants generated
more than 100 ideas for spatial designs (Figure 11-2). They discussed and summarized theideas into eight keywords which described the necessary design requirements (Figure 11-3).
The Future Word “Non-Pressure Café” was included in the design requirements as“Café/Kitchen” and included in the blueprint as “Library Café” (Figure 11-4). The new office
was completed as a do-it-yourself project by workers and construction professionals (Figure11-5).
Page 6 of 25

By adopting the Future Language Method, participants envisioned a new space, identified
problems and solutions and created a more enlivened workplace. Following are theircomments: “Because of the catchy Future Words, we can imagine many spatial images.”“Various dialogue styles occurred, so I think the quantity and quality of the dialogue
improved.”

Figure 8: Former Offices of UDS Ltd.

Figure 9: Future Mining Workshop for renovating UDS Office

Figure 10: Dialogue Session Using Future Words to renovate the UDS Office

Page 7 of 25

Figure 11: Design Flow for renovating UDS Office using Future Language

Page 8 of 25

After using the renovated office for two years, after the process of planning, designing, andconstructing the interior, the company, UDS Ltd., has decided to move in March 2017. To
think about the ideal space and systems in their new office, we recently conducted a Future
Mining Workshop with 50 participants including executives and employees (Figure 12).

Figure 12: Future Mining Workshop for new office of UDS Ltd.

They are currently in the process of incorporating Future Language on space into thedetailed design. In the workshop, 170 future words were generated in total. A few examplesof the Future words they are planning to use are summarized below.
Measurement Space: Put measurement patterns on walls and floors in the café so that
we can understand the size of materials during meetings with the clients. Even if the client
is not familiar with design, they could understand the actual size by using this space.
Decibel Level: As sounds differ depending on the work, assign rooms and spaces basedon the sound level. By creating differences in sound levels, all departments can work in themost suitable environment without worrying about disturbing others.
Hospitality Entrance: There is a space in front of the reception desk where visitors canwait. This would stop them feeling uncomfortable or having to wander around while waiting.
Big Wall: Place a bulletin board on the wall so it can also be used in meetings. Items suchas a map of members’place of birth can be posted for communication hints.
Center Copier: Place the copier in the middle of the office so that it is easy to access fromanywhere in the room. Design the motion line based on the Center Copier so thateveryone can work comfortably.
Page 9 of 25

Display Storage: To stay organized in the limited space, create storage space, includingin the ceiling and the basement, so that all documents, materials, shipments, magazines,
pamphlets, and samples are within reach.
Comfortable Skype: Make a booth for holding Skype meetings or conference calls
comfortably, sound wise and space wise. This booth makes would make it possible to holdmeetings easily with the Chinese office as well as with other offices.
UDS Shop: A shop that sells products sold on UDS sites. This would help the members
know more about other sites and also works as a promotion.

The following is the feedback received from workshop participants:
l

l

l

l

l

l

“Compared to official meetings, with the help of the casual atmosphere, I was able toshare my opinions more. I felt its effectiveness in how the core of the idea wasincorporated into the design.” (Building Material)“We were able to share different points of view by gathering from various departments.
While there are limitations when organizing premises alone, doing it in workshop style
made our thoughts flexible and new ideas were created. I would like to use thismethod in the designing process from now on.” (Architectural designer)“The methodology itself was very new. I was able to understand the premises in thedesign when they were put into words. The process was simple and easy to work on.
I'm interested in how the output design will come about.” (Architectural designer)“ We tend to come up with only 2 or 3 ideas when thinking alone, so it wasinteresting how ideas grew when we discussed and mixed ideas as a group. I thought
this method was highly effective in the way that it enabled us to come up withvaluable ideas in a short time.” (Architectural designer)“Through discussions with members from various departments in today’s workshop,
I was able to know what they are usually thinking about, and what their ideal office
and work styles are. Naming the ideas as Future Words in the end helped us feel that
we actually developed the idea by ourselves, which also helped us build ownership ofour office.” (Planner & regional coordinator)“I was able to understand our usual work style and the history of the company byexchanging opinions with members from various positions. I got excited when wewere able to create a unique system by creating Future Language. Thinking about theideal work place made me think about the ideal work style too. I didn’t have strong
complaints about the present situation, but we were able to find problems throughdialogue and realize room for improvement.” (Public relations staff)

Page 10 of 25

4.2. Designing a new café restaurant
The second case study involved designing a new café to open in Ebina City, Japan, during
August 2015. Initially called ‘Output café,’ it ultimately was named ‘PUBLIE.’ This café wasfounded by RICOH, Japan.
This case concerns identifying the multiple stakeholders’ needs to mine their desiredcommunities, identify problems and map the Future Words (Suzuki et al., 2015). Whendesigning a Third Place (Ray, 1999) with multiple users, it is necessary to develop a placethat fulfills disparate needs and desires. Designers attempt to create ideal spaces by
examining the desires of multiple stakeholders and identifying problems. In this case study,
the Future Language Method served that purpose.
We held Future Mining Workshops several times for housewives, employees of RICOH andUDS Ltd., members of a peripheral company in Ebina City and students from Iba Laboratory
at Keio University (Figure 13). Participants described their vision for a new café restaurant
and their current problems. The designer was included as a stakeholder because designers
are potential customers.

Figure 13: Future Language Workshop Including Employees (upper left), Housewives(upper right), Students (lower left), and designers (lower right)

Through the workshops, 211 Future Words were generated by the five stakeholders. Future
Words from the mothers included; “Baby Dishes,” “Vacant Space,” “Play-Area Centered,”“Alcove Space,” “Anytime Checking,” “Event Manager,” “Now Print,” “Express Counter,”“Bento Box Buffet,” “Family Bistro,” “Surrounded Area,” “Space Charter,” “Event Board,”“Exercise Terrace,” “Kids Café,” “Kids Monitoring,” “Kids Tools,” “Private Café Space,” “PlayInstructor,” “Considerate Dishes,” “Entertaining Chair,” “Tatami Space,” “Omnidirectional
Group Photo,” “CA (Child Attendant),” “Shared Kitchen,” “Shared Menu,” “Natural Toys,”“Indoor Tree House,” “Forest Window Display,” “Tapas,” “Center Play Area,” “Center Big
Page 11 of 25

Tree,” “Table Rocker,” “In-store Baby-sitter,” “Nostalgia Light,” “Nostalgic Juke Party,” “LeafMoney,” “Exciting Secret Base,” “Family Comfortable,” “Sound Partition,” “Craft Paper
Tablecloth,” “Buggy Wide,” “Mama Event,” “Morning Seminar,” “Comfortable Space,” “Graffiti
Wall & Floor,” and “One-Coin Event.” Table 1 shows examples of the Future Words in detail.

Table 1: Examples of Future Words mined by several stakeholders for the new café
restaurant
Future Word

Desired future

Ideas how to realize

Current problem
Adults cannot be fully
satisfied when sharing
dishes with their child, andchildren don't haveanything to eat when there
are only dishes for adults.
There are many chain
stores with same kind of
menus. Already been to
most of the similar bars
around here. Although the
population is not small,there are not many
considerate restaurants.

Family Bistro

Dishes that satisfy
both adults andchildren.

Dishes that satisfy both
adults and children.

Considerate Dishes

A restaurant you canrecommend to people
living outside Ebina.

A restaurant you canrecommend to people
living outside Ebina. A
place with different
atmosphere.

Baby Dishes

A place with adifferent atmosphere.

A place where you caneat delicious food withyour children.

It is difficult to go to tasty
restaurants with children.

Family Comfortable

A place where youcan eat delicious foodwith your children.

There’s no need toworry about othercustomers. Everyone
can easily drop by.

When going to restaurants
in a family, it bothers othercustomers if children start
making noise

Buggy Wide

There’s no need toworry about othercustomers. Everyone
can easily drop by.

The path is wide
enough so that baby
buggies can go throughsmoothly.

It is hard to move aroundwith baby buggies becauseof a lack of space.

Comfortable Space

The path is wide
enough so thatstrollers can go
through smoothly.

A place where you caneat delicious food withyour children.

You can’t bring your childto most tasty restaurants.

Storefront Single
Seat

Women can easily
enter the place alone.
Want to be alone but
want a little
interaction with others
too.

There are seats for
single customers at thestorefront.

Because the place is full of
regular customers, there’s
an atmosphere that you
can’t enter alone. It’s hardto enter restaurants alone
at unfamiliar places,
especially if you don’t haveany friends around there.

Alcove Space

Women can easily
enter the place alone.

There are half-privaterooms.

Want to talk about private
things, but want to enjoy
the atmosphere of the caféat the same time!

Private Café Space

Want to be alone but
want a little
interaction with others
too.

There are seats wheretabletops are unseenfrom others.

There’s no space for doingtasks when spreading
documents on the table.

Page 12 of 25

Second Office

Want half-privaterooms.

There’s space outside
the office where you
can concentrate onwork.

Due to the rules, you can’t
do overtime work even if
there’s a need for it.

Table and chairs thatare suitable for working
on tasks.

There’s no place where
you can spread documentson the table or chairs or
where you can sit for along time but don’t get
tired.

Comfortable Table& Chairs

There are seats
where tabletops are
unseen from others.

Writable Table

There’s a spaceoutside the officewhere you canconcentrate on work.

There are tables you
can write on.

You can’t do activities
where you need whiteboards and craft paper atplaces other thanlaboratories or offices.

Craft Paper
TableclothA café suitable forworking on tasks.

There are places thatallow you to use whiteboards and craft paper
in groups.

You can’t do activities
where you need whiteboards and craft paper atplaces other thanlaboratories or offices.

Paper Tablecloth

There are tables you
can scribble on.

Kids can play around
while moving theirbody.

Kids eventually get tired ofplaying with toys.

Mother Events

There are places thatallow you to use whiteboards and craft
paper in groups.

A base for parenting
increases within thelocal areas.

Morning Seminar

Kids can play around
while moving theirbody.

There are privaterooms for customers
like mothers groups.
There is a base forparenting.

Live Music Bar

A base for parenting
increases within thelocal areas.

Want to hear live
music. Want to have astylish café where you
can relax.

Since Ebina is still an
emerging area, there are
no restaurants to go to withbusiness clients.

Casual Events

There are privaterooms for customers
like mother groups.
There is a base forparenting.

There’s a place to domorning activities.
Casual classes andworkshops are held.

Information on classes andworkshops in Ebina aredisorganized and hard toreach. It is difficult to spend
leisure time in Ebina.

Event Manager

Want to hear live
music. Want to havea stylish café where
you can relax.

You can easilyorganize events orparties.

Places you can go in big
groups are limited.

Event Manager

There’s a place to domorning activities.
Casual classes andworkshops are held.

There are privaterooms for customers
like mother groups.
There is a base forparenting.

Even if there is a suitable
place, you cannot use it
when you want to because
it is booked, or theprocedure is troublesome.

Friendly Nickname

You can easilyorganize events orparties.

Staffs are friendly andeasy to talk to.

Tend to feel hesitant whena restaurant is too fancy.

It is hard to haveconnection with othermothers. There is neither aplace to ask for advice nor
a place people can gather
with their child.
There’s no place oropportunity to shareparenting tips or teachhobbies. Even if there is asuitable place, you cannot
use it when you want to, as
it is booked, or theprocedure is troublesome.

Page 13 of 25

After creating the Future Words for each stakeholder, we then mapped them. In this mapping
process, Future Words with similar meanings were collated according to whether they weresymbolic, concrete, and feasible (Figure 14).
Although the visions of desirable designs and their justifications differed, some solutions
overlapped. Consider these three examples of Future Words; “Fluffy Sofa” is a place to havea long stay; “Nap Chair” is a required space for taking a nap; and “Footrest Place” implies aplace to sit and stretch the legs. These Future Words differed in the needs expressed, butthere were commonalities as each refers to relaxation.
We also found differences in the participants’ visions of a desirable place. Housewives
favored a “Family Bistro” with meals that satisfied both mothers and children. In contrast, theideal space for one member of the peripheral company featured “Craft Beer” as a beverage
beyond coffee and tea. These two Future Words revealed that stakeholders envisioned
different features for the space but the purposes were generally similar. The Future
Language Method identified the overlaps in the diverse stakeholders’ needs and clarified
their commonalities.

Figure 14: Mapping the future words mined from different type of stakeholders

The café restaurant ‘PUBLIE’ opened in August 2015 (Figure 15). More than 15 Future
Words were incorporated in the final plan for the spatial design of the café restaurant‘PUBLIE.’ Future words that actually came true were:Baby Dishes: Not only can an adult enjoy good food, there is also tasty baby food for
toddlers and special menus for children.
Craft Paper Tablecloth: A paper Tablecloth is put on the table so that children can doodle
and workers can visualize ideas before or after their meal.
Second Office: There are sofas for negotiation as well as single seats for finishing up
quick tasks. Customers are starting to use the sofas and glass tables like this.
Morning Class: Hold classes in the morning to utilize the free space. Morning yoga
classes were held around two times, but didn’t attract many customers.
Mother Events: There are events held for mothers when children are at preschool. As
they have a top housewife blogger as a staff member, she is holding such events.
Page 14 of 25

Event Manager: As a staff member manages the mothers’ gatherings or events, it is easy
to ask questions and get advice when needed. Brought-in events and PUBLIE presented
events are both held.
Friendly Nickname: It is difficult to go in casually if a place is too fancy, so staff members
are given nicknames to create a friendly, close atmosphere. PUBLIE “actors” (staff) all
have nicknames and are actually called them by the customers.
Storefront Single Seat: Other than seats for groups, seats are provided for single
customers to casually drop by. Glass table seats are mainly used by workers or single
women customers.
Live Music Bar: There is a space for live performances and days when you can enjoy live
music. It has become a routine event.

Figure 15: The café restaurant ‘PUBLIE’ designed based on future language

Now it has been a year since PUBLIE opened, we asked the management staff to look backon the future words that left a strong impression. For the future word “Family Bistro,” which
represents a place that both parents and children can eat delicious food, they commented as
below.
l“Ebina Ougi-cho itself is still new and there are only a few citizens, so the customers atdinner time are mainly the workers from the companies close by. However, at lunchtime
or on the weekends, customers are mostly parents and their children enjoying the samedishes together. Since it is a suburban area, elderly customers come as well, realizing

Page 15 of 25

the “three generation bistro.” We have plans to make more of scenes like this as thefamilies living in the city increase.”
It seemed that “Buggy Wide,” a future word to make all the paths wide enough for buggies,
was receiving a good response as well.
ll“We have been receiving comments from mothers with baby buggies that they don’t
have to worry about blocking the path and can easily place the baby buggy beside them.
Not a day goes by without customers coming in with buggies.”“There are many mothers with children at lunchtime and we have been receiving a lot ofreservations for groups of mother with buggies, which is difficult to do at other places
nearby. It’s been a year since we opened, and we have child customers that first camein buggies, but now come without. We feel that we were able to grow together withthem.”In addition to PUBLIE, we also held several Future Mining workshops to design an afterafter-school facility for children called ‘COSCIE’ on the 3rd floor of the same building as
PUBLIE (Figure 16). Workshops to create Future Language were held for this project as well,and the words were incorporated into the design and management process. Participants
were parents who live in this area with their children.
The Future Mining Workshop was held under the theme “Ideal After School,” “Ideal Science
Learning,” and “Ideal Science Learning part 2.” Workshops were done with two groups eachtime. For each workshop, we had 10 to 12 participants with 8 Generators. As a result, 133
future words were generated in total.

Figure 16: Future Mining Workshops for After-School ‘COSCIE’
Page 16 of 25

For example, the future words created at the workshop were: “Back to Nature,” “Kids Atelier,”“Three Generation Game,” “Kids Kitchen,” “Communiteacher,” “Local Adventurous Map,”“Worker Investigation Team,” “Little Writer,” “Imaginary Maker,” “Extreme Laboratory,” “Lab
Stay,” “Little Farmer,” “Toy Hospital,” “Experiment Diary,” “Tidy Upper Certification,” “Book
On,” “Kids Exhibition,” “Shared Dog,” “Book Sommelier,” and “Children Staff.”
Out of these words, “Communiteacher” was one of the ideas that came true (Figure 17). Thisis a system where people from the community become teachers and teach something they
are good at or know well about. From a teacher of a painting class to a lecturer at a guitar
school, they have been inviting people from the community as teachers and hold events withthem.

Figure 17: After-School ‘COSCIE’ and its “Communiteacher”

4.3. Envisioning a regional community
The third case study concerns how Future Language workshops in Satsumasendai City,
Japan, triggered a dialogue among residents about their visions of a desirable future for thecommunity in a future center (Fujioka et al., 2015).
A Future Center is an open space where people can bring problems or ideas and gather
diverse groups to discuss them. Future Centers are increasing in number throughout Japan,
and many dialogues about them have been held. However, a methodology is needed totrigger that dialogue among the disparate community elements. The more the local residents
discuss their communities’ futures, the greater the chance for new ideas or actions. To
establish that dialogue, we applied the Future Language Method—in this instance, repeating
the process of Future Mining whereby participants produced Future Words to define
desirable futures and suggested effective actions to realize them (Figure 18).

Page 17 of 25

To set the topic for the future mining workshops, we interviewed local government officers toinvestigate community issues as workshop topics. Topics that emerged included; ‘Local
Future of Farming’ and ‘Local Future of Parenting and Working.’

Figure 18: Process of Expanding Future Mining

In September and October 2014, we held a Future Workshop on the theme “Local Future of
Farming” with local young farmers in Satsumasendai. 10 future words were generated in thefirst workshop, and 31 future words in the second workshop. Through the workshop, we
found out that they wanted to widely share the value of the locally produced agricultural
products with the citizens. Because of the need for an area brand image, the brand“Riverfront” was developed from the future word “Unkai (Sea of Clouds) Brand” (Figure 19).
Also, because there was a need for a place where consumers and producers could
communicate directly, after considering the use of empty stores in a “shuttered street,” theydecided to hold events riverside. Now they are holding “Riverfront Marche,” encouraging
citizens to consume locally and communicate with the producers (Figure 20, 21).

Figure 19: 1st and 2nd Future Mining Workshop for ‘Local Future of Farming’

Page 18 of 25

Figure 20: Designing Implementation of their project based on their future words

Figure 21: Riverfront Marche Event implemented based on the Future Words

The staff from the Future Center where we held the workshop commented on Future
Language and the workshop;l“We had a wide variety of participants from different occupations and ages, such as
farmers, city officials, staff members from city planning groups, public consumers, andhousewives at the workshop. Even in that situation, Future Language helped them holdsmooth discussions and come up with a valuable result by creating a shared vocabulary
between people who may have only met for the first time and talking about a serious
topic. We ended up with a big idea of holding a “Marche,” but looking back now, almost
all the Future Words we came up with are in use in some way or another.”

From city officials and third sector staff who participated in the workshop, we heard thefollowing comments;

Page 19 of 25

l

l
l

“We have been getting ideas about how to utilize empty facilities in the shopping street,but couldn’t figure out how to actually do it. I was able to learn how to organize ideas
and thoughts through the workshop.”“These kinds of events tend to be ready-made by the city hall, but we might be able toconduct events led by the actual organizers by using ideas we came up with today.”“Compared with last time when we talked mainly about farmers, it was interesting how
we got to hear also from consumers and shop owners this time. I found out that whenparticipants change, opinions, and the topic of discussion changes too.”

In addition to the future mining workshop for local farmers, another workshop we held at the
Future Center was conducted under the theme “Local Future of Parenting and Working”(Figure 22). The first workshop on this theme included three housewives, from which 9 future
words were generated. They proposed the Future Word ‘Shared Work’ to capture the idea of
people sharing the same fulltime job, and then the second workshop focused on this topic; asa result, 28 future words were generated.

Figure 22: 1st and 2nd Future Mining Workshop for ‘Local Future of Parenting andWorking’Comments from the participants at the future mining workshop for ‘Future of Parenting andWorking’ were as follows:
l
l
l
l
l
l

“The direction towards realization was clear with a small number of participants and a
speedy process.” (Kindergarten manager)“Seeing how mixed up opinions get organized logically, I felt that new things start from
opportunities like this.” (Corporate Operator)“It was a meaningful since I got to share my thoughts and hear opinions from people
who I usually do not have interactions with.” (Office Worker)“It was a good opportunity to talk with people from different positions and environments.”(Office Worker)“The flow of the ideal future, current situation, solution, and naming was easy tounderstand, which made it easy to participate.” (City Official)“The facilitator was skillful.” (Corporate Operator)

Page 20 of 25

The staff from the Future Center who organized the workshops together pointed out that
Future Language was effective as it directly supported actions to realize the ideas,
functioning as a common grammar/language, and was a highly productive method:
l

l

l

l

“We had the problem with ambiguity of the discussion topic when holding workshopswith citizens, but the Future Language method made it very clear. Instead, of ending thediscussion within the workshop, the Future Language method directly supported theparticipants in feeling some responsibility towards the ideas they came up with to makethem actually happen.”“The participants have a variety of attributes, especially in the provincial cities. Since
farmers, office workers, and housewives each have their own vocabulary, it becomesvery challenging when it comes to dialogue or discussion about the local problems.
“I think that even if the participants meet for the first time, the Future Language method
makes it possible to hold creative discussions and share each other’s opinions andthoughts. In addition, giving catchy names to ideas as Future Words became the‘common mark’ for consent from the people with different attributes, and created thebase for the following activities.”“I feel it is also effective because of its reproducibility. Even though there weredifferences in accuracy, we were able to become Generators and conduct the workshop
by ourselves later on, and it had enough efficacies as a method to initiate the first
dialogue. I think that it is important that anyone can use the method and become aGenerator, especially in areas with small populations of young people like here.”

Therefore, the Future Language Method was able to involve many people and sustain
dialogues about their future of their community.

4.4. Involving Children to make the Play Park Alive
The final case on future languages in this paper is the case which involved children in
making their play park more alive. At “Kodomo no Mori” (Kids’ Forest) in Nerima, Tokyo, we
held an outdoor Future Language workshop with the children as the participants. The
concept of this park is “Nature × Adventure × Interaction,” enabling children to realize the richenvironment through nature experiences and adventure activities (Figure 23). Even though it
is a public park, it is new in a way, as public enterprises and an NPO are in charge of park
management, from creating the space to controlling the operations.

Page 21 of 25

Figure 23: A map overviewing “Kodomo no Mori” (Kids’ Forest) Park in Nerima, Tokyo
We looked for hidden demands and came up with new ideas together with children, focusing
on the park’s mission, facilities development, and events. The workshop was held outdoors
in July 2015 inside the park and was held twice, once before noon and once in the afternoon(Figure 24). A total of 15 children participated in the workshop, from which 51 future words
were generated. A few examples are given in Table 2.

Figure 24: Future Mining Workshop at “Kodomo no Mori” (Kids’ Forest) Park

Table 2: Examples of Future Words mined at the “Kodomo no Mori” park
Future Word

Desired future

Idea how to achieve it

Current problem

Parent vs Kids Tag

Want to play tag withparents/children.

Plan events families canplay together.

There’s no opportunity
for families to play
together at home.

Adults and children canplay together on evenground.

Children plan games that
adults might even lose.
Children decide on thecontent, schedule, andpromotions. 1st round is“Adults vs Kids Tag.”

There are many
opportunities for adults
to plan children’s
games, but they tend togo easy on children
when playing together.

Selfish Plan

Page 22 of 25

Next to the playequipment for kids, place
play equipment forbabies. For example,
swings in two sizes.

Want to play together
with babies, but normal
size play equipment is
unsuitable for them.

Baby Space

There is also playequipment for babies.

Low Mist

Set mist machines forthe summer
refreshment lower.

Set up mist machines on
the ground like sprinklers.

As the mist machine is
too high for children,the mist disappears in
the wind before it
reaches them.

Water Balloon Gun

Want to play with waterballoons that areprohibited in otherparks.

Make guns that canlaunch water balloons.

You can play with waterballoons at otherplaces, but can’t playwith them here.

Seasonize

Want to feel theseasons, summer-likein summer, winter-likein winter.

Make an environment
where you can feel eachseason. For example,
enjoy cherry blossoms inspring, eat shaved ice orice creams in summer, or
make snowmen in winter.

It’s difficult to know theseason when you’re
indoors.

Seasonal Event

We can enjoy events
based on the season
by ourselves.

Children plan seasonal
events and adults
prepare tools oropportunities for that.

There are not manyseasonal events, so it’s
hard to enjoy theseason while playing.

Season Festival

There’s a festival heldon the 2nd Saturday
every season.

Play with water insummer, plant maple
trees in spring, view thetrees in autumn, andmake snow huts inwinter.

Without any different
events based on
season, there is notmuch purpose to visit
the park that often.

Mud Pool

Able to play around in
mud that is not stinky.

Create a “Mud Pool,” thatis made out of mud
without roots or fallen
leaves.

When there is a smellof roots and fallen
leaves in the mud, you
can’t enjoy playing inmud.

Bicycle PracticeSpace

There’s a place topractice riding bicycles
safely and for a longtime.

Make practice lanes
inside the park and havebicycles for practice invarious sizes for rent.
You can also rent safety
wheels if needed.

It’s hard to practiceriding a bicycle as youneed a parent toaccompany you and asafe road to ride on.

We received comments such as “The events were always planned by adults, but we want toorganize events as well from now on!” (12 year old, boy) or “I had fun thinking about new
activities. Big brothers and sisters helped me do the illustration since I’m not good at
drawing.” (10 year old, boy) from children who participated in the workshop.
Management staffs who were watching the children during the workshop commented, “It wasan event where we got the chance to peek inside the head of kids who usually come by andplay around freely. The comment “We want to plan the events instead of adults planning
them.” made a strong impression on me since it made me realize the importance of involving
kids’ curiosity and not just getting ideas from adults.”
Staff commented on the flow of the workshop; “Some kids were hesitating to speak out at
first, but seeing them start to share their ideas and opinions with the help of Prof. Iba and his
students, I felt the importance of Generators. Further, I got to see another side of kids who
are usually shy and quiet, since they were excitedly sharing their ideas as well.”Page 23 of 25

Many of the future words created in the workshop were put into practice. For example, as an“Event or game where parents and their kids compete or work together” from the words‘Parent vs Kids Tag’ and ‘Selfish Plan,’ events such as a tail-catching game and a waterbomb party were held. In these events, they separated into an adult team and a kids team
where they enjoyed a fierce game.
Inspired from the future word “Baby Space,” they created seats for babies called “Everyone’s
Seat” and an event series called “First Outdoor Playing” for parents and children with little
experience of playing outside, aiming for a park that would also be open for babies on
weekday mornings.

5. Conclusions
In this paper, we presented the Future Language concept and method, and then gave
several case studies, which demonstrated the method’s effectiveness, in which the Future
Language Method was shown to encourage collaboration in diverse groups to create future
visions using future words. We have conducted more than 20 workshops on such issues as
designing a learning center, educational programs, community development outside Japan,
and future visions of creative society (Nakamura & Iba, 2015; Kimura,et al., 2016a, 2016b).
We intend to keep organizing workshops for diverse issues and documenting the results of
the Future Language Method.

Acknowledgements
We first acknowledge the other members of our project: Takuya Honda, Sumire Nakamura,
Kosuke Suzuki, and Shoko Fujioka. We thank our collaborators, Keibun Nakagawa, Yuta
Kanezuka, Ryo Tsukahara, Sakura Miyahara, Ai Tabata, and other members of UDS Ltd. We
thank Yuma Akado for translating the future words and feedback into English and for supportin writing this paper.

References
Akado, Y., Nagai, M., Isaku, T., and Iba, T. (2016) “Workshop Generators Patterns: A
Supporting Tool for Creating New Values in a Workshop,” in the 6th International
Conference on Collaborative Innovation Networks (COINs2016).
Alexander, C. (1979) The Timeless Way of Building, Oxford University Press, New York.
Alexander, C., Ishikawa, S., Silverstein, M., Jacobson, M., Fiksdahl-King, I. and Angel, S.
(1977) A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction, Oxford University Press,
New York.
Alexander, C., Silverstein, M., Shlomo, A. Ishikawa, S., and Abrams, D. (1975). The Oregon
Experiment. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Alexander, C., Neis, H., Alexander, M. (2012). The Battle for the Life and Beauty of the
Earth: A Struggle Between Two World-Systems. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Page 24 of 25

Fujioka, S., Honda, T., Tsukahara, R. and Iba, T. (2015) “Chain of Dialogues Involving the
Local Residents with Future Language,” in the 5th International Conference on
Collaborative Innovation Networks (COINs2015).
Honda, T., Nakagawa, K., and Iba, T. (2015) “Collaborative Design of Workplace with Future
Language,” in the 5th International Conference on Collaborative Innovation Networks(COINs2015).
Iba, T. (2014) “Future Language Workshop for the Pattern Community,” workshop, in the
21st Conference on Pattern Language of Programs (PLoP2014).
Iba, T. (2015) “Future Language as a Collaborative Design Method,” in the 5th International
Conference on Collaborative Innovation Networks (COINs2015).
Kimura, N., Akado, Y., Yoshikawa, A., Iba, T. (2016a) ”Creating Future Vision of the Creative
Society Where Pattern Languages are Used”, Focus Group, in the 23rd Conference on
Pattern Language of Programs (PLoP2016).
Kimura, N., Akado, Y., and Iba, T. (2016b) “The Future Vision of Productive City Where
Pattern Languages are Used," in the PUARL conference 2016.
Nagai, M., Isaku, T., Akado, Y., and Iba, T. (2016) “Generator Patterns: A Pattern Language
for Collaborative Inquiry,” in the 21st European Conference on Pattern Languages ofPrograms (EuroPLoP2016).
Nakamura, S. and Iba, T. (2015) “Collaborative Initiative for Community Development with
Future Language: A Case of Lorega District, Philippines,” in the 5th International
Conference on Collaborative Innovation Networks (COINs2015).
Neis, H. (2015) “From a Pattern Language of a Field of Centers and Beyond: Patterns andCenters, Innovation, Improvisation, and Creativity,” Baumgartner P. and Sickinger, R.
Eds., 2015. PURPLSOC: The Workshop 2014 - Designing Lively Scenarios With thePattern Approach of Christopher Alexander. Berlin: epubli.
Oldenburg, R. (1998), The Great Good Place: Cafes, Coffee Shops, Bookstores, Bars, Hair
Salons, and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community, DaCapo Press.
Suzuki, K., Honda, T., Kanezuka, Y., and Iba, T. (2015) “A New Way of Identifying Needs
From Multiple Stakeholders,” in the 5th International Conference on Collaborative
Innovation Networks (COINs2015).

About the author
Takashi Iba is an associate professor in the Faculty of Policy
Management at Keio University. He received a Ph.D. in Media andGovernance from Keio University. He is the president of CreativeShiftLab, Inc. and a board member of The Hillside Group. Collaboratingwith his students, Dr. Iba created many pattern languages
concerning human actions like Learning Patterns (2014),
Presentation Patterns (2014), Collaboration Patterns (2014), Words
for a Journey (2015), Project Design Patterns (2016) and also
academic books in Japanese such as the bestselling Introduction toComplex Systems (1998).
Page 25 of 25