Matthias Horx

Topics

1. 1. Turning Point - Time of Change

   Are we truly living in a turning point? Yes, but only if we understand the significance of the change heralded by ever-new crises. Change is an internal and external process that requires new ways of thinking, worldviews, and “frames.”
   This lecture is about the four major transformations of our time. It is also about a future-oriented attitude that does not escalate into fears and panic over losses, but acts “from the future.”

2. 2. The Climate ReGnosis

   Will we, as humanity, manage to bid farewell to fossil fuels? Let us imagine that this is indeed the case. In this new lecture, Matthias Horx takes the audience on a kind of TIMELINE to the year 2050, the year in which humanity aims to have reduced its CO2 emissions towards zero. The post-fossil transition is described as a fascinating realm of possibilities, where powerful new technologies, markets, and innovations in architecture, mobility, energy, agriculture, materials, etc., emerge. From the future, we ask ourselves: How did we actually achieve this? And lo and behold: It worked!

3. 3. Large Business Change

   Disruption or gradual innovation? Digitalisation or re-analogisation? How do disillusionment with capitalism and environmental debates affect business models and corporate cultures? How are the economic framework conditions changing in the age of Donald Trump and Greta Thunberg?

4. 4. The Secret of the Future

   Future research is surrounded by countless rumours and assumptions, from “prophecy” to “charlatanism” to exaggerated expectations of omniscience. But what does this dazzling discipline really have to offer – and how has it changed over the past decades? In this lecture, prognostic techniques and the development of prognostics are entertainingly explained using practical examples.

5. 5. Future living

   How will “we” live in the future? Actually, that is an absurd question, because there is no longer a “general WE.” The trend towards individualisation creates an ever-greater diversity of living, household, and family forms, ever more diverse forms of mobility and work environments. Nevertheless, with the help of “dynamic-empirical sociology,” the fundamental trends of societal change can be depicted.

6. 6. The Power of Megatrends

   This lecture serves as an opulent, amusing basic introduction to holistic trend and future research. The content can be adapted according to industry needs, but it is about a HOLISTIC view of dynamics of change; about understanding the future in general.

7. 7. Technolution

   The extensively documented TECHNOLUTION synthesis enables a new prognosis of technological processes with evolutionary theoretical models. The basic thesis: Technology does not develop in a linear progression from invention to invention, but in a co-evolution of human culture/needs and technical possibilities.

8. 8. Future City

   In the megacities of Sao Paulo, Manila, or Kolkata, a new generation of globally trained urban planners is experimenting with new methods of urban transformation, which must always also mean social INCLUSION. Cities, according to the futuristic basic thesis, are excellent examples of the workings of self-organised processes. The neo-urban world is a network world, where true progress is shown in connection with digital technology.

9. 9. The Progressive Province

   The massive megatrend of urbanisation seems to always push in ONE direction: More city, more density, more density stress, and acceleration. While the metropolises become ever more crowded, entire regions become desolate, villages die, and smaller towns age. But every trend has a counter-trend! As the shine of the hyper-urban reveals its dark sides, a new phase of decentralisation of living spaces begins, where new forms of cooperation and ways of living emerge.

Videos