Possibility Spaces: An invitation to foster transformative experiences of the possible

Abstract

This article focuses on the applied side of Possibility Studies and the methodologies that could be used to cultivate possibility thinking and empower participants to become agents within the field of the possible. It proposes Possibility Spaces as collaborative pop-up interventions in which theories, methods and practices from across disciplines co-evolve in order to engage with and to serve participants from a wide range of communities around the world. The article starts by outlining a conceptual framework for Possible Action (P-ACT), grounded in the relation between sense of the possible, personal agency and action, which is the theoretical basis for methodologies like PROMPT (Positioning / Repositioning / Original Repositioning / Making / Possibilities Transformed), discussed in great detail. Offered as an example of how to run Possibility Spaces, PROMPT is one among other action-research tools envisioned in the paper. A future of collaboration is ultimately argued for, one in which researchers and practitioners within Possibility Studies work together with local communities to develop more methodologies that foster transformative experiences of the possible – experiences grounded in the continuous interplay between enhanced sense of the possible, personal agency, and the enactment of new possibilities.