Foundations of Futures studies

Participatory foresight for social innovation. FLUX-3D method (Forward Looking User Experience), a tool for evaluating innovations

“…The review of some classical works dedicated to futures studies (Bishop and Hines, 2007;Bell, 1997;Meadows et al, 1972;Bas and Guillo, 2013, among others) makes it clear that the latter is no more -nor less -than a product of its time, and that its appearance and later developments (on an epistemological, methodological, conceptual and application-related level) show strong links with change management and uncertainty; in other words, with strategic thinking. Another objectively verifiable result stemming from that review is that it has been precisely at historical moments characterized by a high degree of uncertainty when strategic thinking has developed to a greater extent.…”

“…In this respect, numerous theoretical approaches have been appearing ever since the second half of the twentieth century along with multidisciplinary, transversal methodologies following the universal assumption that a holistic vision is required to resolve the challenges lying ahead of us (Bell, 1997). It was like going back to square one, after checking that one-dimensional interpretations based on closed models were like trying to stem the tide: a useless effort with a huge added opportunity cost.…”

Understanding the Breadth of Futures Studies through a Dialogue with Climate Change

“…the belief that science involves the idea of the unity of science, that there is, underlying the various scientific disciplines, basically one science about one real world. 15 The predictive-empirical tradition originated in the United States. It arose initially from U.S. Defense Intelligence but was supported as a methodology with broader purposes by the formation of the World Future Society in the late 1960s.…”

“…Rather, science is viewed as being composed of many different "knowledges" each relative to a particular topic and community of scientists. 16 The critiques of positivism and empiricism came from scientists and social scientists, such as Thomas Kuhn, the critical theorists of the Frankfurt School, and Jürgen Habermas, to name a few. In the above quote, Wendell Bell expands on his claim that perhaps the most central postpositivist feature is knowledge pluralism.…”

Park futures: Excavating images of tomorrow’s urban green spaces

“…Second, this commitment to future-shaping informs Bell's (1997) useful differentiation between possible, probable and preferable futures. Possible futures have some foundation in reality; in past and present experiences (as such they are not altogether or essentially utopian or dystopian).…”