By Jennifer M. Gidley, PhD (2021).
Abstract
The challenges we face for near and long-term futures have been called a “crisis of crises,” “wicked problems,” and “grand global futures challenges.” This piece focuses on three grand global futures challenges: growing urbanisation, lack of (or inadequate) international education, and the accelerating climate crisis. These grand global futures challenges will have substantial impacts in the socio-cultural and environmental domains.
However, complex and interconnected trends drive them; they are likely to create significant problems across many futures for humanity, including economic and geo-political. Uniquely, I will also draw attention to counter-trends, twists, and surprises. These alternative futures can mitigate, disrupt, or reverse the dominant trends and enable others to imagine and create alternatives to the disturbing trends being forecast.
As unpredictable futures rush toward us, the challenges for long-term human futures have been called a “crisis of crises,” “wicked problems,” and “grand global futures challenges.” Ranging across socio-cultural, geo-political, and environmental domains, these challenges are complex and systemically interconnected, offering many starting points for further dialogue.
Full text available to read at Trends Research & Advisory (Environment & Sustainable Development). Published February 2021.