Issue 3 is anticipatory.
The theme for Issue 3 is anticipatory practice and suggests that research is never static nor fixed. It operates in motion, is expectant, if not enthusiastic. For example, anticipatory research necessitates foresight and an understanding of consequences. The work contained within this Issue 3 is research-in-progress, which anticipates for example, the multifarious ways in which the work might be developed, resolved, or might play in opening new lines of inquiry.
As a process, anticipatory practice fosters approaches that instil ‘an openness to be imagined’. This is not about speculation, rather anticipatory research is future-facing and holds the potential for revealing ways of how we navigate an increasingly complex set of contexts, challenges, and interactions.
‘In conversation. We posit – what it could be.’ – Teal Triggs
‘Anticipatory practice is imagining the future. It also means responding to the contradictions that emerge when imagination meets reality in practice. Every unexpected outcome that accompanies anticipatory practice is an opportunity for both surprise and reflection, as it hints at a thoughtful yet entirely new direction.’ – Yunqi Peng
‘Through the doing of research, we anticipate how our contributions might be understood / challenged / further expanded by the work of others.’ – Kam Rehal
‘Inclusive cross-community communication is an anticipatory practice in which social infrastructure emerges – a web of connections and relationships between neighbours, community gatekeepers, organisations and institutions – through which the challenges, opportunities and conditions of future change can be better anticipated.’ – Nick Bell
The Editorial Team would like to thank the eight contributors whose research extracts feature in this issue. The breadth of their subject matter, with the diversity of approaches to project work, predicts the exciting potential for research conversations in the making.