A CONSTITUTION FOR 2076 

Client: Democracy 2076 in collaboration with Altimeter Design Group

Team: Megan Valanidas, Maxwell Fertik, Irina Wang, Rachel Margolis (Graphic Design)

Services: Strategic Design, Participatory Design & Community Engagement; Governance

Designing a strategic foresight process to envision what a Constitution for 2076 needs to include to ensure an effective, responsive, and representative democracy. The Constitution for 2076 agenda included sessions for networking, strategic foresight exercises, and thoughtful analysis.


Americans are losing faith in democracy and authoritarianism is stepping into the gap. There has been a 25-year decline in public trust in institutions and optimism about the next generation’s future. The lack of long-term thinking in the U.S. democracy field makes us ill-prepared for the changes that will impact American democracy in the coming decades because we are not proactively anticipating ever-evolving circumstances like climate change and demographic shifts. Democracy 2076 seeks to imagine and develop democracy that is effective and responsive, representative of future generations, and resilient in the face of change.
The Challenge

The fundamental challenge was to counter the short-termism and declining public faith eroding American democracy. Faced with converging, long-term crises—including climate change, massive economic inequality, and political polarization—the U.S. democracy field lacked a 50-year strategic horizon.

The Audience

The primary audience was a select group of 53 leading organizers, futurists, advocates, and policy experts from 41 states and D.C., all dedicated to liberal democracy. This audience comprised high-level, action-oriented practitioners whose daily work is often limited to a 5-10 year time horizon.
The secondary audience included philanthropic foundations, institutional partners, and the broader democracy field who would use the resulting report and constitutional amendments as a blueprint for long-term work and funding strategies.

Insights

The strategic foresight process revealed critical insights through structured world-building:

︎︎︎Consensus on Structural Overhaul
Despite diverse political ideologies and regional focus, participants converged on 68 unique constitutional amendments across 11 main categories. The most prevalent consensus themes across all future scenarios were the need to address income inequality (e.g., Universal Basic Income, maximum income ratios), electoral/legislative reform (e.g., abolishing the Senate/Electoral College, Citizen Assemblies), and providing protected rights for the natural environment/future generations.

︎︎︎The Power of Time Horizon
State-level organizers reported that 93% of their current work was on a 10-year time horizon or less. The act of forcing a 50-year visioning exercise transformed their thinking, with 83% reporting the event changed how they viewed offensive work, proving that a rigorous strategic foresight framework is a powerful tool for overcoming operational myopia.

︎︎︎Values Alignment as Foundation
Beginning the process by asking participants to define the values a Constitution should contain, and what they believe is true about human nature, established a collective moral and ethical grounding for the subsequent, politically challenging amendment proposals.


Strategy & Execution

The action was the design and facilitation of a four-day, high-stakes Strategic Foresight and Participatory Design convening.

︎︎︎Scenario-Based Stress Testing: We employed a rigorous foresight methodology by dividing participants into eight groups and assigning them four distinct 50-year scenarios (Continued Growth, Silver Linings, Constrained Society, Transformation). We then layered specific Projections (Demographic Shifts, Climate Change, Future of Work/Inequality) onto these worlds.

︎︎︎Ideation: At each stage, participants were encouraged to articulate three Constitutional amendments that would prevent the worst or unlock the best possible outcomes within their assigned Scenario/Projection pair.

︎︎︎Physical and Cultural Anchoring: The convening was hosted in Santa Fe, New Mexico, chosen to ground future-thinking in the reality of America's destructive past (as the testing site for the atomic bomb) while simultaneously invoking the imagery and tradition of Indigenous governance as a path toward a sustainable future.

Design & Strategic Intervention

The final intervention was a shared, actionable blueprint for structural change, positioned not as a prediction, but as a strategic asset for the democracy field.

Strategic Artifact: The Democracy 2076 Report. A published, visually compelling report documenting the 68 proposed amendments, organized by prevalence across different future scenarios.

System Intervention: The Design of the Process Itself. The systematic use of World Building + Projections as the primary ideation tool. 

Core Amendments: A New Social Contract. Key recurring proposals like a Universal Right to Wellness (including healthcare, housing, and water) and Intentional Sortition for Congressional representation. 

Long-Term Plan: Pathways for Tangible Change. The project established an immediate follow-up convening to evaluate the political feasibility of the selected amendments and create shorter-term strategic frameworks.







An overview of all the participating groups engaging in exercises and discussions for a second round of World Building with a layer of projections added in such as demographic shifts, climate change, and the future of work.


Navigate for excerpts from the project report.


Somewhere between ‘Continued Growth’ & ‘Transformation’