*Banner photo featuring Tarryn Ryan (Kōrero ki Ōtautahi) participating in Learning Futures Workshop 2024. Photo by Peanut Productions.
How might learning become more visible, connected, and celebrated across Ōtautahi?
Join Ako Ōtautahi Learning City Christchurchfor an interactive futures workshop bringing together rangatahi, educators, community leaders, creatives, businesses, and systems-change practitioners to imagine and prototype the next steps for our city as a Learning City.
Building on our 2024 Learning City conversations, this session reconnects the ecosystem and explores how learning can evolve in response to emerging shifts in our communities and world. Through playful and futures-oriented activities (including rapid imagining exercises, mapping learning across the city, and collaborative design) we will explore new possibilities for lifelong learning in Ōtautahi.
The second half of the evening will focus on workshopping potential initiatives such as a Learning City Ambassador Programme and a Learning City Awards Programme, alongside selected “wild card” ideas contributed by the community.
Participants will leave with new connections, fresh perspectives, and tangible ideas for making learning more visible and accessible across the city.
Ahead of this workshop, we asked futures practitioners to share short provocations that invite us to look beyond the present and consider emerging signals shaping the future of learning. Each video offers a perspective, question, or possibility. Here are three videos to spark your imagination before the session:
Carl Davidson (The Curiosity Company)
Jane Treadwell-Hoye (AŌLCC Co-chair)
Date: Thursday 16 April, 4:30pm -7:30pm (includes a break) - doors open 4:15pm
Location: Function Room 1, Multicultural Recreation and Community Centre (455 Hagley Ave, Ōtautahi Christchurch)
This event is designed as a curated gathering of people interested in shaping the future of learning in our city.
We recognise evening schedules can be busy, so to make participation more accessible you’re welcome to join either session or stay for the full workshop.
What to expect:
Session 1: Futures & Imagination (4:30-6:00pm)
Reconnect with others across the learning ecosystem and explore how learning in Ōtautahi might evolve through playful, futures-focused activities. We’re offering separate session registrations to make it easier and more accessible for people to participate.
Session 2: From Ideas to Initiatives (6:00-7:30pm)
Collaboratively workshop potential Learning City initiatives, including an Ambassador and Awards programme, and explore practical next steps. Separate session registrations help make participation more accessible for everyone.
Facilitators:
Alice Dimond (Kāi Tahu) is a social innovation and futures practitioner passionate about creating more collective and equitable futures. At Tokona te Raki, she leads Mō Āpōpō Future-Makers, supporting rangatahi to imagine and shape better futures through Māori perspectives. A Next Generation Foresight Fellow and NZ Lead for the Futures Methods from Around the World project, Alice works at the intersection of Indigenous knowledge and futures thinking, presenting globally on how mātauranga Māori can drive systemic change.
Dr Cheryl Doig is a leadership futurist, weaver and connector, often known as the #futuresaunty. Cheryl has a passion for growing futures literacy and strategic foresight through her company, Think Beyond. She is an Adjunct Senior Fellow at the University of Canterbury and the founder of the Ōtautahi Futures Collective. Cheryl is one of 12 people selected globally to support the Dubai Future Forum as a Friend of the Forum.
Erica Austin is a designer, Next Generation Foresight Practitioner NGFP 2026 Fellow, community strategist, and facilitator.With a background in architecture, she brings over a decade of experience activating ideas, connecting people and places, and co-creating learning experiences that spark belonging and possibility. As Kaiwhakahaere (CEO) of Ako Ōtautahi Learning City Christchurch, Erica applies systems thinking and participatory design to explore how communities thrive amid complex social and environmental change. She facilitates storytelling, scenario-building, and futures thinking workshops, guiding participants of all ages to creatively explore the worlds they want to live in.