Living Futures: Worldbuilding for circular economy transformation

A gouache of an Edwardian country-house lawn: a round mid-century theater rotunda rises over the grass, dwarfing the empty wicker chairs and tea table; a manor in the distance.

Carousel of Plenty

The Carousel of Plenty

The season's real subject turned out to be the good life — and the kind of luxury that comes from a better place than scarcity.

Mid-century-style painting of a sunny country-house lawn: a silver flying saucer hovers over the grass beyond an empty wicker chair and a set tea table, a manor house in the distance.

Circular Century

The Circular Century — So What

Clarke said that whether or not we are alone in the universe, the prospect is terrifying. This season's final letter asks what would make us worthy of the answer.

Illustration of an Edwardian country lawn at golden hour: a tea table and croquet set on the grass, a wind turbine turning behind the manor house, and a rocket rising in the distance.

Circular Century

Coping with Abundance

Every age of plenty before this one was fleeting — squandered by an economy that profits from more. The Circular Century is the first abundance built to stay. Which leaves only the question of how to cope with it.

Mid-century-style painting of a sunny street: a man bikes past a small driverless shuttle while people sit at a café, low pastel buildings and a cypress tree behind.

Mobility

Personal Mobility

The right vehicle for every trip, owned by no one in particular — how the Circular Century unbundles mobility from the car in the driveway.

Automat

The Commissary

What if the best place in town were the one we all went to? The Commissary is the Automat reborn — good food made special, and within everyone's reach.

Small curated wardrobe in morning light: citrine knit jacket, sage blouse, charcoal sweater, coral scarf on wooden hangers, folded sweaters on a wooden bench, canvas shoes lined up below.

Carousel of Plenty

The Curated Wardrobe

What if your wardrobe just got better instead of bigger? The Curated Wardrobe is clothier as tailor at scale — so anyone can dress smart.

A coral red cordless drill stands upright on a counter at a tool library, citrine yellow wall and pegboard of hand tools behind. Mid-century illustration style.

Carousel of Plenty

Something Borrowed

The performance economy comes home.

Companion Device

The Personal Companion

A device fitted to you on your first day of school, that grows with you across a lifetime. What consumer electronics looks like when it lasts.

Energy Sovereignty

The household has been at the far end of a long fragile string for a century. Energy sovereignty is the move out. Solarpunk 2.0, and the triad that builds it.

Living Futures

The Living Home

How it feels to live in a home that gets better with time, and what it takes to make one. Why the dwelling is the test case for better living with circularity.

Mid-century illustration of a warm neighborhood street: a figure walks toward an open workshop, a small food counter sits across the way, and a citrine yellow delivery vehicle rolls past.

The Neighbors

What happens when a block generates its own power, grows its own lunch, and tends its own things? The neighborhood becomes the operating layer of plenty.

Atelier

The Atelier

The neighborhood workshop where skilled artisans tend your things before they break — making them more yours over time.

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