The Lumisphere Experience, a groundbreaking immersive installation of three interlocked geodesic domes that invites visitors to imagine — and plant the seeds for — the future they want to see.
Nov 5, 2025—Since the Lumisphere launch four weeks ago, Jane McGonigal, PhD, IFTF Director of Game Research & Development has made observations about the data and outcomes:
"The survey results show a clear and encouraging pattern: the Lumisphere Experience both raised the ceiling of urgent optimism — increasing the share of respondents who expressed the highest possible confidence in their ability to shape better futures — and lifted the floor by significantly reducing the proportion of participants who reported no sense of agency or optimism at all. Across all four measures or urgent optimism (mental flexibility, realistic hope, future power, and openness to possibility), these shifts were statistically significant (p < 0.001), even with thousands of participants, underscoring that the observed changes are real and reliable, not random fluctuations. In practical terms, the findings reveal a measurable reduction in disengagement or despair and a clear pathway for producing more positive psychological engagement with the future — greater confidence, hope, and belief in collective action."
“What we’re seeing with the Lumisphere Experience is remarkable — not just a statistical uptick, but a genuine psychological shift across thousands of participants. This program didn’t just raise the ceiling of optimism — it lifted the floor, reducing the number of people who felt no sense of agency or hope about the future at all."
We designed this to measure urgent optimism as a collective capacity, not just an individual feeling. These results show that it’s possible to measurably strengthen our shared belief that the future is still ours to shape — even in moments of deep uncertainty.Jane McGonigal, PhD, IFTF Director of Game Research & Development
Oct 2, 2025—IFTF is proud to announce our research partnership with Visions2030 and the Lumisphere Experience, a groundbreaking immersive installation of three interlocked geodesic domes that invites visitors to imagine — and plant the seeds for — the future they want to see.
This collaboration is rooted in a shared belief: that the future is not something we merely inherit, but something we can actively shape and celebrate. In the face of widespread anxiety about climate collapse and ecological loss, the Lumisphere represents a transformative alternative. It shifts the climate conversation from fear to possibility, offering an experience that is emotionally engaging, aesthetically inspiring, and psychologically empowering. At IFTF, we see the Lumisphere as a vital example of imagination as a public good, and we are honored to support its mission through research and foresight.
As part of this collaboration, IFTF will lead a research effort to measure and amplify the impact of the Lumisphere on public imagination, agency, and belief in positive futures. Our research will focus on how immersive experiences like the Lumisphere can spark what we call urgent optimism—a mindset we define as the ability to stay hopeful, motivated, and engaged even in the face of significant future challenges.
We will assess three key components of urgent optimism using a validated measurement framework based on three core diagnostic questions:
Through mixed-method tools, including pre/post-visit surveys, interviews, and observational insights, we will analyze how experiencing the Lumisphere changes the way visitors think and
feel about the future. We will also explore which elements—visual design, storytelling, participatory activities—have the greatest measurable impact across diverse audiences.
The Lumisphere is an extraordinary example of a cultural technology for awakening urgent optimism. We’re excited to rigorously study how immersive, aesthetic, and joyful experiences can measurably boost people’s readiness and motivation to face the future—and to act boldly and creatively in their communities.Jane McGonigal, PhD, IFTF Director of Game Research and Development
We believe the Lumisphere is not just an experience—it’s a civic intervention in the story we tell about the climate crisis. This is an opportunity to build the evidence base for what imaginative public engagement can really do. We’re thrilled to help shape, document, and share its impact.Jake Dunagan, PhD, IFTF Director of the Governance Futures Lab
This research will not only provide insights on how the Lumisphere experience affects participants, but will also contribute to the broader field of futures literacy and environmental imagination. At a time when the climate conversation urgently needs new narratives, affective pathways, and forms of civic engagement, we believe this collaboration offers a model for how to inspire not just awareness, but readiness, creativity, and joy.
The partnership between IFTF and Vision2030/the Lumisphere Experience is already underway, and we look forward to sharing findings and insights that illuminate how collective imagination can become a catalyst for systemic transformation.
Jane McGonigal is IFTF’s Director of Game Research and Development and leads IFTF’s future imagination training program, Urgent Optimists. She is a world-renowned creator of games designed to solve real problems and change real lives, most notably SuperBetter, which has helped more than 1 million players recover from symptoms of anxiety, depression, concussion, and chronic pain.
She is the New York Times bestselling author of Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World and SuperBetter: The Power of Living Gamefully. Her latest book, IMAGINABLE: How to See the Future Coming and Feel Ready for Anything—Even Things That Seem Impossible Today, draws on scientific research in psychology and neuroscience to show us how to train our minds to think the unthinkable and imagine the unimaginable. She has also created games for organizations including the American Heart Association, the International Olympic Committee, the World Bank, and the New York Public Library.
Jane’s research focuses on how games are transforming the way we lead our real lives and how they can be used to anticipate hard-to-predict futures, ready ourselves for any future scenario, and increase our resilience and well-being. Her classic TED talks on how games can make a better world and ready us for the future have more than 15 million views. Before joining IFTF, Jane taught game design and game theory at the University of California, Berkeley and the San Francisco Art Institute. She has a Ph.D. in Performance Studies from the University of California, Berkeley.
As a pioneer of experiential futures and social foresight, Jake Dunagan has been at the forefront of the field for the last two decades. Jake brings both theoretical rigor and hands-on practical knowledge to his work. He teaches foresight and design futures students at leading institutions, including the University of Texas's Center for Integrated Design, California College of the Arts' Design Strategy MBA program, and CENTRO in Mexico City.
Highlights from Jake’s work include the ReConstitutional Convention (a global governance design experiment and toolkit), immersive scenarios for the year 2050 for the State of Hawaii Sustainability Taskforce, a tech and ethics toolkit for the UNDP, artifacts from the future of American cities with the United States Conference of Mayors, exhibitions for the Museum of the Future in Dubai and Telefonica Museum in Madrid, and collaborations with many civic organizations, foundations, and businesses around the world.
Jake holds a Ph.D. in Political Science (Alternative Futures) from the University of Hawaii, Manoa; an MA in Anthropology (Visual Communication) from Temple University;, and a BA in Anthropology (Radio, TV, Film) from Auburn University.