Alexandra Whittington (@alexandra4casts.bsky.social)

New to #Foresight and #Futures Studies? I just read a terrific article on the evolution of the field, truly an impressive overview citing some of the best sources. Highly recommend! Brilliant schema describing different forms of Foresight. #Futurist #Future #Futurology www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/12...

loading . . .

The Story of Futures Studies: An Interdisciplinary Field Rooted in Social Sciences This article presents the almost century-long history of the development of futures studies in a comprehensive review. Futures studies, rooted in sociology and policy sciences, had become an academic discipline by the 1960s. One of the major global communities representing the discipline, the World Futures Studies Federation (WFSF), celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2023. In the 1970s, the focus was placed on discourses on global problems and preferred futures. Futures studies then developed a global institutional community and become a mature discipline by the 1980s and 1990s. Futurists by then had already mutually shared theoretical perspectives, objectives, ethics, and methods, and had produced empirical results. A wide range of comprehensive publications at that time synthesized the foundations and preceding results of futures studies. From the turn of the millennium, active discourse took place on the forthcoming role of futures studies. By that time, the theoretical, methodological, and practical knowledge foundations of the discipline had also appeared in internationally well-documented curricula. Since around 2010, the discipline has been characterized by the development of practical foresight projects. Based on notable trends and identified research gaps, this article formulates up-to-date expectations and research directions within which futures studies might develop in the future. https://buff.ly/oNKbesM