Future workshops were developed by Robert Jungk to allow stakeholders to become involved in creating their preferred future rather than being subjected to decisions made solely by experts, the elite, and the establishment. Future workshops are strongly action oriented. They aim, first to imagine the desired future, and then to plan it and implement it.

Future workshops have distinctive phases. Those identified by Wikipedia are:

1. The preparatory phase where the issue that will be considered is identified and the structure and details of sessions are arranged.
2. The operative phase involves clarification of the issue and articulation of negative experiences in the present situation.
3. The fantasy stage where participants verbalise their desires, dreams, fantasies and views about the future in a free idea generation session. The participants are asked to forget all the limitations and obstacles of the present reality.
4. The implementation stage that involves: analysis of the feasibility of ideas and solutions generated in the fantasy phase; recognition of limits and barriers for implementation and discovering how the barriers can be overcome.
5. The follow-up phase where the plan of action that emerged from the workshop is monitored to check on progress and assess the need for further workshops or actions.