Democracy has long relied on a quiet assumption: that decisions can be revisited, corrected, undone. That it will, eventually, be someone else’s turn. But what happens when decisions no longer remain reversible?

As more and more of the consequences of our actions and inactions stretch far into the future, this assumption begins to break down. When the possibility of correcting mistakes disappears, the legitimacy of decision-making itself is challenged.

We tend to think of democracy as something that belongs to those alive right now. But these assumptions begin to shift. Future generations are deeply affected, yet cannot be represented.

How might democracy change if it took future generations seriously? And how can a longer time horizon become part of present decision-making?

Note: This is 1 of 3 talks that are part of the evening school “On Air: Redesigning Democracy” — book a seat for the whole program here:

https://billetto.dk/en/e/redes...

→ Klara Sørensen, who works with citizens’ assemblies at We Do Democracy and with the question of how a political “we” is formed.


→ Nicklas Larsen, Director at the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies, working with intergenerational fairness and how future consequences are accounted for in present decision-making.


→ Pernille Maria Bärnheim, Deputy Director of CAFx, whose work moves between education, research, and curation, with a focus on how the built environment conditions collective life.