SURPRISE! Confronting Unknown Unknowns As the last couple of years has dramatically shown, CHANGE IS UNAVOIDABLE. How do we trade off today’s short-term benefit against the cost of preparation for an uncertain future? This has been the all-time challenge for policymakers, CEOs, foresight planners and each of us individually. Change and uncertainty are increasing at a rapid [...]
According to the recently adopted United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, every country has to “Make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.” This policy simulation game aims at generating ideas on how to do just that.
Ms. Ana Jones an Urban Scientist and Project Leader from Finland Futures Research Centre (FFRC) currently produces Greening Urban Futures Podcasts which is a research-based living forum that builds on the notion of nature-intelligence and cross-collaborative design as the basis upon which the well-being of future societies relies. One of her most recent podcasts is [...]
We live in a world more complex and larger in scale than our forbearers could have ever imagined. Our technology-dependent society has become a dizzying, interconnected web as unstable as a house of cards All it may take to send civilization crashing back to a preindustrial level is a nudge from what theorists like John [...]
This book serves as the final report of the Game Changers project lead by Prof. John Casti and coordinated by Leena Ilmola. The project was established towards the end of 2009 as a part of the Extreme Events in Human Society initiative at IIASA, the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (Laxenburg, Austria).
Green Visions explores and evaluates the historical pathways, contemporary development, and future outlook for planning, design, and policy-making of green and recreational cities in the Nordic Region. As cities navigate contemporary urban challenges and prepare for uncertain futures with regards to climate change, urban densification, and social inequities, the insights from the book act as [...]
THE WORLD AFTER COVID-19: How to improve resilience during the crisis? The Coronavirus crisis revealed how important resilience is for countries and global systems. In this document we outline concrete means for building resilience against multifaceted uncertainties that the pandemic has triggered in the global system. The approach is based on the analysis of low probability [...]
The Coronavirus Pandemic and Potential Implications Executive Summary The coronavirus pandemic is an X-event (extreme event) that has impacted many aspects of our global society. The conclusions in this whitepaper are the result of applying systems analysis and foresight methods to look at a post-Coronavirus world. The objective of the analysis is to provide actionable [...]
What will the world look like post crisis? This scenario space identifies 5 key issues & alternative ways in which these key issues may develop between now and 2025. A framework for developing resilient strategies by Eidos Partners.
The Coronavirus Pandemic and Structural Changes in the Global Economy We are facing a possible recession that is similar in magnitude to the depression of the 1930s. The coronavirus crisis is changing lives around the world. What are the implications for the global economy? Which new behaviors will become permanent and in what respect might [...]
