Concrete Playground

Watching educational film series such as Back to the Future and Bill and Ted taught me a valuable lesson about the future - it's shiny, flashy and full of danger.

Now the boffins at the Live Futures 2020 festival are trying to spread the rumour that the future is actually a wonderful place (time?) in which to live. This year's theme is "A World of Convergences", and its aims are to highlight the tomorrow-building potential generated through interdisciplinary collaboration.

The result is a schedule that threatens to tempt everyone in your tribe: presentations from noted futurists, documentary screenings and interactive artworks are on offer for the princely sum of your attention span. Definitely try to get involved in this one, as it's not often that you can tell people you've spent the day acting like a gene, or that you led your own impromptu unconference presentation.

Check out 2009's Live Futures 2020 festival and take part in building a better world...for Biff Tanner.