PlacesForLife Tour: The Power of Imagination with Rob Hopkins

The Challenges of Our Collective Futures.

After a long sumer of heatwaves and consistently high temperatures, wildfires and drought, few people can now be wholly unaware of the challenges that climate change brings to our shores. Climate change is not our only challenge. It is interconnected with many others:

• biodiversity loss which threatens the resilience of our habitats and food systems;

• water pollution and now water shortages;

• the future of food as soils deplete and dry out;

• the future of work, employment and how we are going to design and fund a new and different kind of economy. One that is resilient, sustainable and regenerative.

• At a local level, the turbulence of local government change.

• And perhaps most important of all, how we recreate some sense of community, togetherness, co-mutual support for fellow humans - and non-humans - in a cultural climate that is increasingly polarised.

Our guest today has found that focusing on what is dire - as we often do - drops the shoulders, makes us feel helpless, and disengages our sense of hope in the future. Something that is so essential, even in the middle of turbulence and change. And that focusing the mind and heart on how we might travel to the future with creativity, imagination, hope and inspiration, enables us to deal with whatever may come.

So we invite you to join us in a creative approach to reimaging the future of our place, West Sussex - and how it's innovation and enterprise landscape, its city Chichester, its coastal harbours, its rural landscapes, its small towns and villages - can work together to imagine the future we all want to work towards.

Time Travel to the Future We Want with Rob Hopkins.

On Saturday 19th September a genuine time traveller comes to West Sussex! Come and join us at the beautiful Weald & Downland museum for a day of inspiration about the future to replace the doom, gloom, fear, anxiety about how climate change and the polycrisis is unfolding, and how it will affect all our futures.

There are many different futures that may unfold. In Rob's future we travel to a place where human ingenuity has once more aligned in partnership with the nature that supports life on earth, our economies have become fairer, more just and more equitable, and our cultures friendly, welcoming, community-oriented and resilient.

Whoever you are, and wherever you work, we all need to cultivate active hope for the future. For ourselves, for future generations, for the voices of nature that cannot speak for themselves. Whether you are a local business who wants to be more active in the community, an exhausted climate activist, a waterkeeper, a landowner, a farmer or an environment manager, hope for the future is something we all need to work on - together.

Hope is an active practice. Activating our imagination fosters a sense that positive outcomes are achievable. We're not chasing vain hope, we're not ignoring the fact that we face challenging times ahead. What we are doing is creating intentional energy and belief that together, in collective imaginative effort, we can shape brighter futures.

This will be a day where business leaders, civic workers, activists and regenerators can come together in collective action for the future of West Sussex, our county city Chichester and the landscapes and villages of our whole bioregion.

This is the first of our autumn series of Places For Life events in our West Sussex bioregion.

What you can expect to learn.

On this full day training programme, Really Regenerative brings Rob Hopkins, founder of the Transition movement and author of ‘From What If to What Next’ to the Sussex Bowl Bioregion.

Continuing to build on the understanding of our bioregion that we began together in 2025, Rob will lead us on a inspiring day full of creative practices and processes on a deep dive into the radical imagination and how to unlock it in our bioregion on the scale the polycrisis demands, transforming us all into Imagination Catalysts for regenerative futures.

On this participative training day, we will learn and practice how to:

• Build our collective imagination muscle through a series of engaging activities

• Time travel to the future that turned out OK (and not dystopian after all!) and experience it with all your senses

• Become adept in the difference between ‘Yes, but’ and ‘Yes, and’

• Take a ‘Walk of What If’ to expand the ambition of your organisation’s next steps and move beyond short term thinking

• Bring energy, humour and playfulness to the big challenges of our time such as food and water security, biodiversity loss, climate change

• Generate hundreds of inspired ideas and then turn some of them into immediately workable proposals

Timetable.

09.30 Doors open at Weald & Downland Museum; head for the Crawley Hall

09.30-10.00 Welcome coffee, tea, breakfast snacks.

10.00 An introduction from Jenny Andersson, founder The Really Regenerative Centre CIC to the day

10.20-12.30 How to Fall In Love With The Future part 1 with Rob Hopkins

1230-13.30 Break for lunch (see below for details)

13.30-16.00 How To Fall In Love With The Future part 2 with Rob Hopkins

16.00-16.15 Close and thanks to all!

Ticket Sales

Please note that all ticket sales close on Friday 11th September at 6pm. There are only 50 places for the whole event, and limited numbers available in each category, especially the young people, volunteers and low-income group. The more people can pay-it-forward, the more we can increase other categories. We do recommend early booking because we cannot increase overall numbers due to venue restrictions. We have different ticket prices on trust that everyone is honest about their circumstances. But please do not buy a CIC/charity ticket if you are not working for a CIC or charity because you will be taking a subsidised place reserved for people who are often unpaid, underpaid and unfunded.

Is this for me?

How to Fall In Love With The Future is for anyone who is actively involved - or wants to become involved - in shaping place-based community-led regeneration. Whether you are a local business, a councillor, a care worker, from our National Park or National Landscape, from our river-keepers or our farming community, work with a local NGO or charity, there is something to be learned in this full training day. This training is for:

• Local businesses wanting to create positive local impact

• NGOs and charities - including of course long time supporters of the Transition Town movement which Rob founded

• Organisations who care for our natural environment; national parks, national landscapes, river trusts

• Regional and local councillors and MPs with an interest in environment, community, the polycrisis, the future,

• Regenerative and organic farmers

• Community organisers

• Changemakers : anyone who is feeling the strain of trying to bring attention to the future challeges we face and wants to inject a little hope and imagination into their work!

We will focus on the key question of how we can re-imagine the future of our bioregion with the city of Chichester at its heart. Our bioregion includes our critical waterways, our chalk streams and natural harbours, our woodlands and heathlands of the South Downs, our coastal plain in the Manhood penninsula and stretches from Emsworth in the east to Arundel in the west, from Petersfield to Pulborough. It contains the creative enterprises of Chichester, the growing industry of the coastal plains, the estate enterprises of Goodwood, West Dean, Cowdray, the food producers such as Nature's Way, Langmeads and our maker industry from Rolls Royce to the rope-makers of Horsham.

What other regions have said about this experience.

“I hope that we will be able to keep this feeling of hope going. To start a way of sharing ideas and supporting each other as a collective in the future. There are so many of us working so hard individually to make our town a better place for everyone, but it can be so isolating and I for one had grown quite apathetic and had lost most of my hope for the future. Meeting Rob and taking part in this event has had the biggest impact than anything else that I’ve done in years. It has changed my mindset completely and I really want to keep that going. I believe that moving forward the best way to do that is to keep these connections growing as a collective of organisations to magnify our impact and support each other”.

Feedback from one participant in the Middlesborough training.

“Hosting Rob on the Newcastle leg of the Imagination Tour was a dream. It was such an informative and inspirational day. It was fascinating to watch Rob lead with care, good

humour and genuine involvement. The experience he brings really shows – what could easily have been a busy, bitty process instead became nearly 80 people being led through a beautiful, flowing experience filled with wonder, inspiration and hope.

In the build-up, there was a genuine openness to letting local producers inform and shape the day. People have been raving about it ever since, and it’s already sparked multiple conversations and ideas. We can’t wait to see what comes out of it all. If you’re thinking about bringing Rob in for something similar, don’t hesitate – he has a gift for holding a room and helping people imagine, dream and hope”.

Feedback from the Newcastle training.

"What stayed with me was the emotional vocabulary that emerged. This workshop was always part of a practical, participatory design workshop series, but what we didn’t anticipate was the impact the experience would have on those taking part. Hopeful. Joyful. Inspired. Invigorated. Rested. All words used by the people who took part.

For anyone working at the intersection of community, place and change, Rob’s methodology doesn’t just unlock imagination. It shifts the register entirely. From the inside”.

Siobhann Mansel-Pleydell, Strategy Director, Oxfordshire Liveable Streets

About Rob

Rob Hopkins is a cofounder of Transition Town Totnes and Transition Network, and the author of The Transition Handbook, The Transition Companion, The Power of Just Doing Stuff, 21 Stories of Transition and most recently, ‘How to Fall in Love with the Future: a time traveller’s guide to changing the world’. He presented 100 episodes of the podcast series ‘From What If to What Next‘.  In 2012, he was voted one of the Independent’s top 100 environmentalists and was on Nesta and the Observer’s list of Britain’s 50 New Radicals. Hopkins has also appeared on BBC Radio 4’s Four Thought and A Good Read, in the French film phenomenon Demain and its sequel Apres Demain, and has spoken at TEDGlobal and three TEDx events.

An Ashoka Fellow, Hopkins also holds a doctorate degree from the University of Plymouth and has received two honorary doctorates from the University of the West of England and the University of Namur. In November 2022 he was made an Honorary Citizen of Liège in Belgium by the Mayor of the city. Rob runs ‘How to Fall in Love with the Future’ trainings for organisations as diverse as Balenciaga, London Marathon Group, local councils and Museum Booster. His collaborative music project with artist Mr Kit, ‘Field Recordings from the Future‘ is now available, and is being developed as a live show which will tour in 2026. He is a keen gardener and was, until recently, a director of Totnes Community Development Society, the group behind Atmos Totnes, an ambitious, community-led development project.

The Weald & Downland Museum: Our venue for the day.

The Weald and Downland Museum allows visitors to step into 1,000 years of rural life and discover a place where history comes alive. Explore over 50 rescued historic buildings, meet traditional craftspeople, discover working demonstrations and uncover the stories of the people who shaped our countryside. The museum is a hands-on, ‘Do Touch’ adventure for all ages. Step inside historic homes, explore the great outdoors, enjoy seasonal events, meet friendly animals and make memories together. Every visit helps keep rural life alive – preserving traditional skills, protecting historic buildings and inspiring future generations.

Our thanks to our supporters!

We are able to bring Rob Hopkins Imagination Tour to West Sussex with participation at a very reduced rate thanks to our long time supporters LSP Leadership and a kind anonymous local donor. We are also enormously grateful for the ongoing support of Weald & Downland Museum who allow communities organisations to use their facilities to host valuable gatherings.

LSP Leadership is a world class leadership development organisations working with organisations around the UK to release the true potential of teams. We're enormously grateful to have their support in developing our regenerative leadership programmes such as Power of Place, and this Autumn a local programme of events in Sussex.

This one day workshop with Rob usually costs many hundreds of pounds to attend at places like Hawkwood College, and we can't express our gratitude enough to our kind supporters who enable us to do our regenerative work around the world, and in particular in our own home place West Sussex.