Inviting Non-Human Stakeholders
Inviting Non-Human Stakeholders is a perspective-taking exercise in which participants take the role of a non-human entity connected to a real case, such as an animal, a tree, a river or a mountain, and are interviewed from that position. It brings ecological interests into a planning or place-based discussion that would otherwise consider only human parties. The method comes from the Reimaginary project (2020), which names Joanna Macy's Council of All Beings as its inspiration; the 90-minute version described here was written by Anke de Vrieze for the Transition Makers Toolbox.
Facilitation script
- 1
Tell the case story and end on a question about the future of the place. Ask people to listen with all senses.
15 min - 2
Lay out the character cards. Everyone picks one and reads the back.
5 min - 3
Silent imagining of being the character, followed by individual notes or sketches.
15 min - 4
Form trios. Each person writes an opening question for their own character.
5 min - 5
Interviews in character, about ten minutes per person, with follow-up questions linked to the case.
30 min - 6
Plenary: step out of role, share what the characters added, and write one joint sentence expressing a wish for the future of the place.
20 min
Tips
Build the cards from real ecological knowledge of the site, ideally checked with someone who knows it, so the role-play is informed and not sentimental.
Coach interviewers to ask about needs, dependencies and changes over time; questions that invite the character to judge humans produce speeches.
Before the closing sentence, ask each person to step out of role and say what they, as themselves, now see differently.
Common pitfalls
Thin or inaccurate character cards. Participants fill the gaps with clichés, and the group leaves with a wrong picture of what the species or landscape actually needs
Characters that talk like human activists. The interviews turn into familiar opinions in costume and nothing new enters the discussion
Treating what was said in role as findings. Decisions then rest on imagination presented as ecological fact, which is easy for critics to dismiss
Skipping the silent imagining to save time. People go into the interview with nothing to draw on and answer from the card text alone
Ending with the joint sentence and no link to the plan. The exercise is remembered as a pleasant interlude and the stakeholder list stays as it was
Variations
Short version: the original Reimaginary exercise is much briefer, roughly 5 to 20 minutes, and can be dropped into a longer workshop as a single round in which each person speaks once as a non-human. Planning version: after the interviews, review an existing stakeholder map or draft plan and add the non-human interests that were voiced. Outdoors: run the silent imagining step on site, with each person standing near the entity they represent. Online: send each participant a card as an image, use breakout rooms for the trios and collect the closing sentence in a shared document. Masks, if used, help some groups stay in role and make others self-conscious; offer them, do not require them.
Where it fits
When to use it
A planning or design process concerns a specific place and the stakeholder list contains only people and organisations
A group talks about nature in general terms and needs to get concrete about which species, water bodies or landscapes are affected
You want to widen the set of criteria before options are generated or assessed
A course or programme on sustainability needs an exercise that links ecological knowledge to perspective-taking
You can prepare well-researched character cards for the actual site
When not to use it
You need an ecological assessment. The exercise builds attention and empathy; it does not replace surveys or expert advice, and role-played statements are not evidence
The group is strongly sceptical of role-play and the session carries high stakes. Add the ecological interests to a Stakeholder Map with an expert present instead
There is no real place or case. Without one the characters stay generic; use Council of All Beings if the aim is a broader reflective ritual
You want to explore conflicts between human parties. Stakeholder's View is designed for that
The session is under 30 minutes and you cannot prepare cards. Use the short single-round version or leave it out
Related methods
Frequently asked questions
What is Inviting Non-Human Stakeholders?▾
Inviting Non-Human Stakeholders is a role-play exercise in which participants speak as an animal, plant, river or other non-human entity affected by a real case. After a period of silent imagining, they are interviewed in character by two others and the group collects what these voices add to the discussion. The method was developed by the Reimaginary project and adapted as a 90-minute workshop by Anke de Vrieze for the Transition Makers Toolbox.
How is it different from the Council of All Beings?▾
The Council of All Beings, created by Joanna Macy and John Seed, is a longer communal ritual in which participants speak for other life forms in a council, often as part of deep ecology work. Inviting Non-Human Stakeholders takes its inspiration from that practice but is tied to a specific case and uses prepared character cards and interviews in trios. It is designed to feed a planning or design discussion.
How do you prepare the character cards?▾
Choose entities that genuinely belong to the place: species that live there, the soil, a watercourse, a hill, a prevailing wind. Put an image on the front and a short description of the entity's role in the local ecosystem and what it needs on the back. A local ecologist, ranger or long-term resident can check the facts quickly and usually suggests characters you would have missed.
What if participants feel silly speaking as a river or a beetle?▾
Some awkwardness is normal and usually passes once the interviews start. Working in trios keeps the audience small, the silent preparation gives people material, and factual cards make the task feel like informed advocacy and not acting. Frame it plainly as a way to check what the plan overlooks, and let anyone who prefers it take the interviewer role for longer.
What do you do with the results?▾
Capture the needs and concerns the characters raised and carry them into the next step of the process. In practice that means adding them to the stakeholder map, turning them into design criteria or questions for experts, and checking draft options against them. Mark them as perspectives to investigate, since they come from imagination informed by the cards and not from field data.
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Try it freeMethod descriptions on Workshop Weaver are original content written by our team, based on established facilitation practices. This method was inspired by work from Reimaginary (2020); workshop version by Anke de Vrieze, Transition Makers Toolbox.