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Abstract
The need for strategic foresight in an increasingly complex and rapidly changing world poses a formidable challenge to environmental planners and policy makers. Th is paper introduces futures research as an under used but fruitful set of approaches to addressing this challenge. Futures research is a transdisciplinary social science that uses a wide range of methods to explore possible, plausible, and preferable futures with the goal of anticipating and preparing for those futures. Th e historical context for environmental futures is briefly reviewed, an overview of futures research as a distinct field of study is presented, and several of the main methods of futures studies are described.
Parent Publication
Citation
Bengston, David N. 2012. Futures research: A neglected dimension in environmental policy and planning. In: Bengston, David N., comp. 2012. Environmental futures research: experiences, approaches, and opportunities. Gen. Tech. Rep. NRS-P-107. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Research Station: 4-12.
