Futures Studies/Futurology

The intellectual and emotional engagement with sustainability will be incomplete without being critically sensitive to the temporal element. For developing a spiritually-engaged sustainability worldview/worldfeel, we must not only study history/histories but also the future/futures. We need to understand and find ways to design alternative and preferred futures.

Six Pillars: Futures Thinking for Transforming
By Sohail Inayatullah

Transcendence of a Method: The Story of Causal Layered Analysis
By Jose M. Ramos
(From Introduction:  Causal layered analysis (CLA) is a future oriented methodology created by Sohail Inayatullah. This methodology is  post-structural   in so far as it seeks to problematise
existing future oriented thinking, exploring the assumptions, ideologies, worldviews, epistemes, myths and metaphors that already are embedded in images, statements or policy oriented  research about the future. It has developed, however, as a way of opening up spaces for alternative futures. These alternative futures are not based on extrapolating trends or tweaking the  assumptions in a systems model as is common in scenario building, but through deconstructing/ reconstructing critical assumption about the way we constitute the world. However, the articulation of alternatives is a product of this method, not a primary consideration focus of the method.)

Future Peace: Breaking Cycles of Violence  through Futures Thinking
By Tessa Finlev ( The Institute for the Future,  USA)
(Abstract: Why is it so hard to break out of cycles of violence? This paper focuses on the challenges associated with breaking out of cycles of violence and why futures thinking may provide a potential solution. Research suggests that people living in violence lack the ability to think about a peaceful future, or any future for that matter. Addressing this inability may hold a critical key to breaking out of cycles of violence. While there is mounting theory to support this idea, evidence based research is still lacking. )


A Survey on Futures Studies Methods
By Mohamed Saleh, Nedaa Agami, Ahmed Omran, and Hisham El-Shishiny 
(Abstract: Futures studies, or long-range perspective  studies, are an indispensable source of help for sound planning and decision making in  today's chaotic, complex and rapidly  changing world. The accelerating pace of  change, together with a multitude of accompanying uncertainties, make it all the more important to expand our time perspectives so as to include the future, i.e. to futurize our thinking. This can generally be done through utilizing a variety of futures studies methods. Such methods can be either qualitative, quantitative or both. In this paper, we aim at giving an overview of the futures studies paradigm, its purposes, principles and most commonly used key methods.)

Steps Toward an Explicit Ontology of the Future
By Roberto Poli  (University of Trento, Italy)
(Abstract: After decades characterized by diminishing interest in the theoretical underpinning of futures studies, the past few years have seen the onset of a new concern with the foundation of futures studies. Interestingly, recent discussion has not been limited to the epistemological bases of futures studies but has also begun to address the problem of its ontological grounds. The paper discusses some of the elements of ontology that should become part and parcel of the set of categorical tools that any working futurist should have at his or her disposal, such as the theories of latents and levels of reality.)

Environmentalism in Transition? Emerging Perspectives, Issues and Futures Practices in Contemporary EnvironmentalismBy Stephen McGrail 
(Abstract: In this article I consider desired and in-progress reframing of environmentalism to better "fit" and influence the contemporary context. This review is structured by the Transformation Cycle, a critical futures studiestool. Emerging perspectives, issues and practices are highlighted and interpreted to contribute to research and action pursuing more sustainable futures. I draw on Dryzek's model of competing environmental discourses and the concept of "waves" of environmentalism, and ask: is environmentalism in transition? The article presents
evidence of increased "futurism" (as defined by Jim Dator) in environmental movements and new forms of "positive dissent" (as defined by Richard Slaughter) that demonstrate significant innovations in the use of futures methods to create desired futures. The article concludes by reconsidering and reasserting the case for the futures and environmental fields working more closely together.)

Futures of the Climate Action Movement: 
Insights from an Integral Futures Approach
By Chris Riedy (University of Technology, Australia)
(Abstract: In this paper, I use a Wilberian integral futures approach to examine visions of the future within the climate action movement and identify sources of agreement and contention. I argue that the Wilberian approachis particularly valuable in drawing out diverse futures associated with differing levels of consciousness. Applying this approach to the climate action movement, I identify a likely future in which the continued promotion of a particular set of ecological values limits the appeal of the movement and reduces its effectiveness. An alternative future sees movement leaders working from or adopting more diverse value positions to develop
movement visions that have broader appeal and support more effective results.)