Coming of Age 20/40 is an immersive Futures Garden project that turns abstract foresight on youth into a tangible, relational experience. It combines rigorous research, speculative worldbuilding, physical artefacts and conversational AI to explore what it might mean to grow up in Europe in 2040.
From Research to Experience
The project began with a structured four-step futures methodology, supported by a dedicated digital platform, to scan and synthesise signals shaping the transition to adulthood by 2040. Workshops with young adults (18–30) and a semester-long collaboration with design students deepened the exploration of “emerging adulthood” in a fast-changing world.
The research examined which new policies, institutions, infrastructures and support systems might be needed for a generation facing a “crisis of reality”, where language, norms and institutions struggle to keep pace with technological disruption, climate stress and economic precarity. Traditional markers of adulthood such as marriage, parenthood and linear careers were rethought in favour of internal markers like responsibility, self-reliance and fluid identity.
Over three months, ideas, fears and desires were captured on a shared visual workspace, mapping key stressors such as housing affordability, platform precarity, mental health, AI, climate extremes and geopolitical fragmentation. This work led to future “markers of maturity” and a broad policy spectrum spanning transport, family policy, jobs, gender and migration. The findings were then translated into an immersive experience: Coming of Age 20/40, a conversational encounter across time.
Artefacts, Personas and the Encounter
At the heart of the experience are four physical exploration kits, modelled as backpacks belonging to four future personas: Rowan, Nova, Cypher and Zane. These young activists travel to a European youth summit in 2040, each from a different cultural background and each facing distinct challenges linked to new adulthood markers.
The project focuses on four domains of adult transition:
- Learning: non-linear, experiential growth in a world where formal education struggles to keep up.
- Wellbeing: mental health in the face of climate anxiety, economic instability and social stress.
- Autonomy: independent decision-making and responsibility, complicated by technological disruption and prolonged dependence on family safety nets.
- Relationships and intimacy: mixed-reality connections, AI-mediated ties and beyond-human kinship that stretch traditional notions of closeness.
Each backpack holds personal treasures - a neural interface, a weathered keepsake, a family recipe that reveal how these young people live within 2040’s geopolitical and technological reality. A neural interface, for example, points to capabilities linked to biological or technological augmentation, while a family recipe hints at the persistent importance of familial safety nets.
A small voice-AI device, the Orb, pairs with these artefacts to open a conversational channel between today and 2040, allowing visitors to speak directly with the personas. Handling the objects and talking through the Orb lets participants experience the future not as a distant scenario, but as the lived reality of individuals defining adulthood through inner criteria, rather than outdated milestones like marriage or homeownership.
Inspiration and Conceptual Evolution
The initial spark for Coming of Age 20/40 was a sense of unease: young people are growing up inside systems changing faster than language, norms and institutions can adapt. The central question became: How can today’s societies genuinely witness and support a generation living in conditions never before experienced?
A broad investigation into technological, social, emotional and environmental forces produced a plausible Europe of 2040, with shifting norms, new forms of kinship and evolving markers of identity and autonomy. Within this world, the four characters were developed—who they are, what they long for and how they navigate uncertainty - before their personal objects were designed. Each artefact, whether worn, gifted or hacked together, became a window into their histories and priorities.
As objects were refined, the personas deepened, revealing nuances that pure text could not carry. This interplay of research, worldbuilding and material storytelling turned conceptual profiles into fully realised young adults living at the threshold of 2040. A final piece then emerged: the Orb, conceived as a conversational portal so visitors could encounter these characters not only through objects, but through relationships.
Symbolism, Influences and Design Choices
Symbolically, the backpack represents a curated archive of self—the fragments a young person chooses to carry when much else is unstable. The Orb works as a membrane between present and future, enabling intimate, empathetic encounters where the future is experienced as testimony shaped by today’s policies and cultural norms.
The project draws on research into emerging adulthood, identity, wellbeing, technology and autonomy, alongside speculative storytelling that emphasises relational, rather than predictive, futures. It is informed by youth digital cultures, immersive narrative practices and by real personal objects that people value or adapt, each carrying emotional and cultural weight. Together, these influences create a future that feels lived-in and emotionally tangible.
The design team explored many formats—from speculative magazines to AI mirrors and installations—before settling on the hybrid of backpack, artefacts and Orb as the most intimate and balanced medium. A key breakthrough came when the artefacts themselves began shaping the characters, revealing emotional histories that enriched the narrative. Another came during early conversational tests, when the personas “came alive” and confirmed that dialogue could carry the emotional weight intended.
Making It Real: Techniques, Coherence and Impact
Coming of Age 20/40 combines speculative worldbuilding with hybrid immersive storytelling. The physical components were developed through material prototyping, hand finishing and subtle ageing to give each object a sense of lived history. In parallel, the Orb required voice development, personality modelling, conversational scripting and iterative tuning to support unscripted, emotionally nuanced dialogue.
Maintaining coherence across the speculative world, the artefacts and the conversational behaviour was one of the main challenges; all layers had to feel credible and aligned without over-explaining the future. Technically, building an interface that could speak from a complex future context demanded careful balance between research, character voice and emotional tone.
The ambition is to spark dialogue about what growing up might mean in 2040 - and what responsibilities the present holds towards that future. By holding objects from a young person’s imagined life and speaking with them directly, visitors are invited to move from abstract forecasting to relational empathy, encountering the future as something that can be felt and, therefore, shaped with greater intention