At Lagori’s Social Design Lab

We are reflecting on how to imagine futures that address urgent needs by embracing South Asia’s diverse realities—its complex relationships between people, land, and systems. We are questioning how might we move away from linear models of development and instead prioritise regeneration over extraction, and community over competition. While these futures are crafted with the region in mind, we hope our insights can offer new ways to think about resilience, justice, and our shared futures, globally.

Rooted in the belief that the future is not a single destination but many coexisting possibilities, futures work invites us to expand our imagination of the many futures we can make possible. Futures work is not about predicting what will happen, but about critically examining the present to understand what changes are needed to create preferred futures for everyone. In a world increasingly defined by uncertainty, the need to envision futures that reflect diverse realities has never been more critical. Engaging in imaginative and design-led processes allows us to explore alternative pathways - those that push beyond the present constraints and challenge the systems that perpetuate inequity, environmental degradation, and outdated technological paradigms. If we can’t imagine it, we can’t create it.

South Asia is at a crossroads, where the futures it envisions for itself will determine how it navigates the immense social, ecological, and economic pressures of our time. The region’s traditions of coexistence, adaptability, and pluralism are not just cultural legacies - they are critical resources for shaping liberatory and resilient futures. Central to this is the act of decolonization - reclaiming and centring marginalised voices, and reshaping systems that have perpetuated exclusion and inequity for generations.

South Asian Futures represents an essential act of reclamation, allowing the region to move beyond colonial legacies and Western development models to craft pathways that are reflective of and attuned to its complexities. We also recognise that post-colonial systems often replicate colonial power dynamics and that power structures within South Asia, rooted in caste, class, and regional dominance, continue to marginalise communities. Indigenous wisdom and local practices must coexist with practices introduced during colonial rule while dismantling those that perpetuate inequity. To dismantle these internal hierarchies, we are exploring approaches that emphasize inclusivity and co-creation, ensuring that all voices, especially marginalised ones, are heard. Lagori envisions futures rooted in alternate philosophies of time and ecology to values of community and sustainability.

The futures we imagine are shaped by the questions we ask today. Our approach to developing a South Asian Futures practice will evolve—adapting to the contexts and uncertainties that emerge as we engage with them. At the heart of our inquiry lies a key challenge: how do we build futures that reflect the multitudes of South Asia’s realities? To arrive at this:

• We are creating a framework with methods and tools that will help us and our partners to apply a South Asian Futures lens in practical and accessible ways.
• We are translating theory into practice by launching pilot projects that test and refine tools and methods, iteratively.
• Our approach will be co-created with practitioners, scholars, and communities across South Asia through projects, podcasts, workshops and South-South learning exchanges.

Lagori has been working on a theoretical framework for reimagining South Asian futures, rooted in the region’s rich and diverse knowledge systems. It is designed to serve as a foundation for actionable strategies, guiding a broad spectrum of professionals—from researchers and policymakers to practitioners, designers, and multidisciplinary artists—in applying South Asian perspectives to their work.

Click below to read the South Asian Futures Framework.

You can also download the Principles here

We invite partners who are aligned with our vision. This could mean helping expand imagination of futures, developing informed strategies today that address future challenges, supporting research and exploration, or incorporating futures thinking as an ongoing process—all through a South Asian lens.

Lagori is a social design lab and member-run community space building equitable futures in South Asia. We are an Index Node, a global network of transparent & non-extractive third spaces across the world.

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Write to us at [email protected] if you would like to engage more deeply