Pinja Päivinen has been part of this work since before CTL existed. She came in as a focus group participant in Copenhagen and, over the years, became a co-author of the methodology, a presence at Terres du Son, and — soon — a colleague based in Lyon. We asked her five questions.
You’ve been connected to this work since 2017 — longer than CTL itself has existed. How has your relationship to the questions it asks changed over that time?
I think encountering and starting to think about futurization during the course on the psychology of time, my interest started with just curiosity about how big of a role time plays in our lives and what actually happens when we imagine the future. Working with it during the earlier years made me do a lot of self-reflecting as well. Untangling the relationship to the past, present and future and how that also personally affects my thinking was a big personal question I saw, that arose from the work.
Similarly, as I’ve always been interested in the connection between how we feel and act, and spend time trying to understand my own relationship with the uncertainty of the future and the complexities surrounding global issues like climate change, I had to first realize just how uncertain and anxious I generally am about the future and learn to sit with it.
So I would say the journey through the questions has shifted from more academic curiosity towards the concept of the future and a learning opportunity, to something more constantly adapting and evolving — questions on what we can do to support the process of future thinking and thus support behaviours affected by it. Adding also the layer of creative thinking into how do we make this engaging and interesting rather than just an academic inquiry — how is it applicable to our everyday lives and different cultures?
You’ve watched the Space of Futurization go from a research idea to something people experience at festivals. Is there a moment from that journey that stays with you?
I would have to say the first deployment at Terres du Son in 2024. I unfortunately missed the prototype in Copenhagen so this was the first time I got to closely be part of the process of bringing our research and ideas into life in a physical space. It’s kind of amazing to think back now to the whole process with many unknowns — I didn’t even have an idea on how to imagine the tent we would be inside!
And overall just getting to work with the team to take our research and creative ideas and build a space where they get to speak and shine and be witnessed by people. I think getting the first people into the tent and space itself also brought this moment to light. It made me realize how we finally did it and gave me encouragement in seeing how the many, many ideas that we have can take shape and not only contribute to research and methodology, but to create experiences for people and open up conversations.
You went from focus group participant to co-author of the methodology. Was there a moment where you realized this had become your work, not just work you were helping with?
I think there were a few along the years but the biggest “realization” only happened recently.
The first one was when we finished and submitted the book chapter on futurization. I had just finished my bachelor’s and was also in a very transitional moment trying to figure out the future (as we do all the time). Even as I hadn’t been working on it so closely with the project while I was finishing my thesis, having that opportunity to contribute to an academic publication was a big moment for me that also gave me confidence.
Then there was the first Terres du Son deployment that had a big impact on me, but I would honestly say that it was the second deployment last year along with taking on a more active role in the whole preparation process, ideation and working in a different role with the team that gave me the feeling that this work is part of me in a way and it’s there to stay. Not to say I didn’t connect to it or feel like this before, but that was the moment that made me experience my own role differently and also gave me the opportunity to explain the work more closely to our interns helping out — that was a moment of reflection on how much the work actually means to me.
This made me see how I had grown from learning to be comfortable in the discovery process not as an observer but as someone who can use personal insight to let the data and research speak and do this through creativity more naturally. And also that my role had truly shifted already from being “an observer and thinker” to the asked questions to being one to ask “what is the next question to explore?” and “how can we take what we see and create something new from it?”
Your background combines psychology, nutrition, and behavioural sciences. How does that combination show up in how you think about futures work?
I always like to say I’m kind of a chaotic curious mind — instead of one clear question I often have at least ten in my mind at once. I just find humans and life in general fascinating in so many levels. I think I’ve always been that way from the time I tried at least ten different hobbies or sports when I was young until I landed on one that I loved.
Along with psychology I minored in philosophy during my bachelor’s and have done a range of environmental and sustainability courses throughout both my degrees, as I’ve always been drawn to interdisciplinary thinking about the questions of why we act, feel or eat the way we do. I think as humans we share so much at our core but are also shaped by so many factors including culture, environment, and our lived experiences — and in understanding the questions we ask, we need to combine different lenses to make sense of the sometimes chaotic picture in front of us.
I also worked in hospitality for almost a decade in one role or another, which has taught me almost equally about people as my studies have. We can’t wish to shape our eating or food systems without understanding the people and pressures involved in it, like we can’t shape behaviour without understanding many other factors such as emotions, motivations, culture and barriers.
So to summarize this answer before it becomes a book: I think my background shapes how I think about futures work through aiming to not only focus on how we imagine the future but trying to understand the process and behaviour around it by creating a kind of mosaic out of all the little pieces that go together even if not so obviously. What I love about working with this team is that it’s a community of people from various backgrounds and experiences and it’s always great to see different perspectives contributing to shaping the ideas we have.
I’ve also learned that even as the aspiring philosopher in me would like to answer the biggest questions in life by combining all the worldly knowledge, I have a unique experience through my background that gives me also a specific lens through which I can contribute to the questions we ask about the future.
Eating and food is something we all share as humans — we need to in order to survive and it will continue (in one form or another) in the future. How we eat is also shaped by habits, emotions, culture and tradition and is connected to our well-being and health on multiple levels. There is no future without food (for living beings at least) and while it’s not the whole picture by any means, I think it is an essential (and curious) lens embedded in futures work that I aim to incorporate into my work at CTL.
What does moving to Lyon mean to you — practically and otherwise?
Currently it has been lots of packing and lots of endless lists of things to do (but thankfully only for a little while). Practically it means changing my life, environment, and not being so physically close to many loved ones, which is a little scary even though I’ve done it before. It’s a little funny how I think you get a little more nervous about this getting older. I don’t think I spent this much time planning when I left to study in the U.S. (for seven years) without ever having been on a plane.
It’s also the first time moving to a country where I don’t speak the language almost at all (but it’s a work in progress). But it also means practically being closer and more hands on to our work and our team which I am very excited about. And I’m also excited to see how I can professionally grow and where my ideas can take me. It also means a new chapter and an adventure for me personally.
The last years have been a little tough on many levels and ever since I moved back to Finland (now already almost seven years ago) I’ve had the thought to experience another place, environment and culture again and I’m excited to have this opportunity to make it happen. This always comes with some uncertainty about the future but as we have learned it’s natural and something to accept and get comfortable with.
Sometimes we need to embrace the unknown and I truly believe these types of changes are always good. No matter what happens, it makes you grow and gain new experiences — so I’m excited to see how that happens for me in the near future.
Welcome to France, Pinja!
