The futures of futures studies
Pushing the boundaries of futures thinking
26 October 2023 (Thursday), 11:15-13:00, imagine2

Disruptions and transformative foresight

In the course of the last 5 years, we have seen dramatic changes in our global environment. Pandemic, Russian attack on Ukraine, rapidly accelerating climate change are but some of the most prominent examples of the new era of large-scale disruptions. This development poses a tough challenge for futures studies. How to make sense of this new level of dynamic changes? How to frame these often abrupt changes? How the very nature of future is itself possibly changing? What are our tools to deal with these events, leave alone understand their long-term implications? In this presentation, I will lay some foundations for what I call transformational foresight, which essentially tries to come to grips with this new kind of dynamism inside our system. I will suggest some avenues, patterns and trends to build a more thorough understanding of what may lie ahead.

Professor
Finland Futures Research Centre/University of Turku, Finland