exercise · all tools
4D Mapping (Social Presencing Theater)
An embodied map of a whole social system: participants physically take the roles of its stakeholders — including marginal and non-human ones — arranging themselves as Sculpture 1 (current reality), sensing, then letting movement carry the constellation to Sculpture 2 (emerging future), each voicing one sentence from their role. The system's stuck dynamics and leverage points become visible in bodies and space.
Prerequisites
- Body warm-up (e.g., 20-Minute Dance) before role embodiment; case giver consents to their system being mapped
- Embodying a system's painful roles moves people unexpectedly — debrief by role, then de-role explicitly
- Facilitation benefits from SPT training; without it, keep to smaller, lower-stakes systems
Practical
- Time
- 90-120 min + 20 landing
- Group
- 8–24 · small-group, large-group
- Settings
- in-person
- Materials
- Open floor; role labels; facilitator plus scribe; circle of seats
- Mechanisms
- somatic-awareness, systems-sensing, creative-expression, perspective-taking
- Change scope
- state · one-off
Instructions
- Where
- u-school.org/4dmapping — u-school for Transformation — Theory U tools, open
- Availability
- Open online — published at the link, free to read
- Licence
- CC BY (Presencing Institute)
Source link checked 29 Aug 2026 — unchanged since we recorded it on 28 Aug 2026
This directory describes and points home; the instructions stay with the people who made them.
Origin
Arawana Hayashi and Social Presencing Theater faculty (Presencing Institute) — Theory U / Social Presencing Theater
In this directory via u-school for Transformation — Theory U tools · Transition Makers Toolbox
Related: 3D Mapping (Sculpting the Current Reality) (variant-of) · The Stuck Exercise (pairs-with)
status: checked · added 2026-08-25