Foresters, technology enthusiasts and chainsaw poets – modern-day forest owners and managers!

Photo: Already Tomorrow

Tell us briefly about the prototype. What questions are you exploring through your future prototype?

- Our journey began with us getting to know the subject, reading, listening, experiencing and looking, and this was followed by interviews – with forest owners, users and others who have a relationship with the forest in different ways. We embarked on a subject that was both vast and partly unknown to us. In the project group, we all have a relationship with the forest, some more forest lovers and others more forest heirs. In other words: we approach the forest from both the outside and the inside.

To open the conversation, we used fictional provocations, statements that chafed, provoked thoughts or invited resistance. Each interview began with such a provocation – and from each conversation the next was born. In this way, each interview became both an end and a beginning, a link in a chain of deeper understanding. The fictional provocations were interspersed with quotes from the interviewees and linked to thematic insights.

Check out the prototype here!

How is the prototype designed? And how have your target groups been able to interact with the prototype?

- The material has been shaped into a magazine – a tool for conversations about the forest in the forest. It is a collection of sprawling provocations that have grown from our signal collection and, above all, the interviews and dialogues with forest owners, managers, foresters and researchers that we have conducted during the course of the project.

Each spread is intended to serve as a dialogue starter. The narrative is sprawling – just like today's forest debate – and highlights both concerns and visions. What does it really mean to be a "good" forest owner in the future? How do you become a "good" manager of the forest? How do you balance profitability with climate responsibility, biodiversity and recreation? Is it possible?

The magazine is intended to be used out in the forest to allow the dialogue about the forest to take place in the forest where it happens! We have also developed a dialogue format for forest dialogues:

Active forest dialogues

Plan a day in the forest with a conversation partner, not everyone needs to share the same opinions, but feel free to mix perspectives (e.g. a forest activist, a representative from the forest industry, a private forest owner who practices clear-cutting and one who practices close-to-nature clear-cutting-free forestry, a researcher in conservation biology or forest production). Get out into the forest with our magazine and dive into discussions about the future!

Phases in the Forest Dialogue

1. Tystnadens Vandring: Start with a quiet walk in the forest to get in the right mood. Go in silence to a chosen place to gather your thoughts and prepare your mind.
2. Skogsbadets Inhämtning: Sit down and breathe in the forest atmosphere for 10 minutes to really feel the presence of nature.
3. Dialogue starter: Browse the magazine.
4. The hiking dialogue: Continue the discussion during the walk, let nature inspire and guide the conversation.
5. The Tribe Lean: Lean into a tribe and reflect on the conversation, summarizing insights and lessons learned.

Photo: Already Tomorrow

Who are you trying to reach?

- With our future prototype, we want to challenge today's actors and visualize just how widespread and wild the debate around forests is. The goal is to spark new thinking in the forest value chain and inspire more people to participate in the dialogue. We have used the future prototype in two stages in interviews with our reference group. Each interview began with a visualized provocation that led to conversations that gave birth to the next provocation. With a completed prototype, we then went back to our reference group and presented the magazine during a forest walk to drive the dialogue forward. The ideas have really been set in motion and we have had ideas shared via email and text after the walks.

What thoughts and feelings has the prototype aroused in the target group?

We are not experts in forests – but in methods. This is required to create new forms of conversation. Achieving mutual trust before dialogue was an important part.

The conversation about forests is polarized. Different perspectives are at odds with each other, and research does not always point in the same direction - but the will to meet is there. Many seem to long for a dialogue that is conducted in the middle ground - where you can talk without taking different ends of the thread.

From the outside in - “Maybe an enthusiastic idiot is just what is needed?” - Our role as designers is to create structure, wonder and a helicopter view. And finish!

Time turned out to be a central theme. The time you own, the time it takes for the forest to grow, the time it takes before you see the consequences, the time for reflection. Planning for forests means thinking in generations – but at the same time being in the present.

It's good to meet in the forest - Let conversations about the forest happen in the forest!

Photo: Already Tomorrow

What is happening with/what plans do you have for the prototype going forward?

We have explored and there are things that could be deepened and also things that could be provoked using our tools. Perhaps we could do a larger forest dialogue and workshop in the forest with our magazine as a start.

Thank you so much Anna!

Read more about Vinnova's transformation journey for a sustainable forest value chain