Planning for The Ubuntu Lab
Michael Radke · 2024
With a mandate to help people understand people, The Ubuntu Lab is a museum and community space with a global footprint. Over the last eleven years, its team has pioneered a model for guiding learners to be better able to build self-awareness, empathy, and a community-oriented worldview. This case study will explore the questions the institution has faced, how it integrated futures thinking, the existing models the team drew from, the principles of Radical Humanity they embraced to put humanity on display, and the lessons they are bringing into the next stage of their work. The models they&s;ve built on include Hands-on Science Centres, Sites of Conscience, Experimental Travel, and the service industry. The principles they&s;ve developed of Radical Humanity include Designing an Emotional Journey, Museum as a Service, Content that Supports Learning to Know, and Facilitation as Co-Exploration. These explorations come together around lessons in creation, simplicity, care, and humanity.