The challenges of living scenarios for Australia in 2050

The Australian Academy of Sciences began Australia 2050: Living Scenarios to explore how science might inform a more environmentally sustainable and socially equitable Australia. We concluded that a set of 'living scenarios' could support a richer national conversation, but there are many challenges in developing such scenarios. A review of horizontal, vertical and archetype scenario approaches stressed engaging in dialogue and making assumptions explicit. Our workshop invited a small group of Australians to engage in short, intimate conversations through four scenario archetypes in order to explore a process and develop broad narratives for further exploration as living scenarios.